Review: Ihmisen osa

Regards: Mom

In the beginning there is an illuminated chair, a narrator and – love. A mother’s love for her children. People from whom the story economy of our time sucks its profits. One child perseveres, another is marginalized, and a third makes a joke.

Helsinki City Theatre’s new play, The Human Part , based on the novel by Kari Hotakainen, delights with its bold adaptation and directional lighting (Raila Leppäkoski). Reading a book does not diminish the stage experience – and vice versa.

A satirical play about our paradoxical times. A time where what is more important and interesting than the truth is how things and people are made to sound and look.

The mother (Ritva Valkama), a former yarn merchant Salme, is an ordinarily wise folk woman who sells her family’s life story to a writer (Teemu Palosaari) who is languishing due to lack of creativity for 7,000 euros.

The fates of Salmi’s adult children (Sanna-Kaisa Palo, Jaakko Saariluoma, Armi Toivanen) are blown up into a brutal kaleidoscope on a stage staged in an otherwise almost dreamlike dark tone.

Salme keeps in touch with her children with postcards in which she distributes instructions for a sensible life, and reminds them of a home where food is waiting and love is mercifully blind.

Leena Uotila rises to the level of Valkama’s expressive power with her ten exhilarating roles. Also worth seeing is Kari-Pekka Palo’s performance as a cheeky and selfish businessman.

At the end, the stage, the audience and – gentleness are darkened. Quietly and without underlining the questions of meaningfulness and meaninglessness of life have been sown in the viewer’s mind. When crying doesn’t help, you have to laugh, and a lot!