Review: Miltä parta tuntuu

Diving into the soul of Russia

Contemporary drama seeks a new national foundation

The Helsinki City Theatre has introduced to its repertoire the novel What a Beard Feels by Ksenia Draguskaya, a new Russian drama. The authentic Russian stamp of the interpretation of this play is guaranteed by the fact that visiting Russian theatre professionals are involved in the production in Helsinki, such as director Olga Subbotina and Anatoli Tsetsik, who is responsible for the set and costume design.

The plot of the play consists of the encounter of two worlds. Marina, a young literary scholar from Moscow, travels to an authentic rural village in the heart of Russia. He was originally lured there by a romantic relationship with Nikita, who is not only a young charmer but also the spiritual leader of the village.

Marina is immediately forced to notice that the Russian country life she imagines, about which she has read descriptions of Russian masters, is completely different today. Collisions occur all the time. The play, which lasts just over an hour and a half, is full of constant and unpredictable twists and turns that cannot be understood by rational thinking. It is not for nothing that the script has quoted Fyodor Tyuttsev’s words: “Russia cannot be understood with reason, it cannot be measured with a uniform cubit, Russia has a special nature, one can only believe in Russia”.

As if between the lines, this play, classified as a folk comedy, also criticizes Russia’s current state of affairs and oligarchic rule. The villagers are rebels who did not adapt to the Soviet system, but it is just as difficult to adapt to the current state of affairs in Russia.

What a beard feels like is hilarious going, dancing and singing, imaginative scenes and also hilarious replication. Jukka Malinen , who made the Finnish translation, has obviously succeeded well in his translation work.

Vappu Nalbantoglu, who plays Marina and is also known from a couple of films, interprets a very young literary scholar. Oskari Katajisto Nikita is multi-faceted and changes his appearance in situations like a chameleon. Leenamari Unho is bloody as Nikita’s wife, but also surprising as a witch aunt. Risto Kaskilahti gets to present his range of skills in three different roles, the best of which is undoubtedly the role of a little boy.

An interesting pair is Sanna Majuri and Antti Lang. Both have several roles, of which Majuri’s blacksmith’s grandson and Lang’s Cowboy stand out the most.