Review: Keltainen kuu
The gorgeous, cinematic performance is a gem of spring.
The City Theatre’s Studio Elsa has completed one of the most impressive works of the spring, directed by Johanna Freundlich . David Greig’s Yellow Moon is exactly the kind of play it should be: a strong premise, interesting characters, drama, surprises and romance. With four actors, Freundlich has created a concise, very cinematic performance. The wistful theme music composed by Ismo Alanko is combined with powerful sound effects, the acting is energetic, and the lights reveal wonderful things from behind the scenes. Just like in the movies, but now alive.
British author Greig has subtitled the play Ballad of Leila and Lee. The name is apt. The urban, violent story has the features of a ballad and the romance of an escape story. The events begin in a middle-class neighborhood, where the protagonist is Lee, Leo Honkonen, a restless young rebel. Single mother Jenni, Vera Kiiskinen , self-pityingly escapes into alcohol, while her male friends change around her. Pekka Huotari plays the latest, violent boxing teacher. Life is rough and the father model is conspicuous by his absence. He has mysteriously disappeared somewhere in the north of England.
The other half of the ballad, Leila, is played by the sensual Ushma Karnani, who is remembered from the recent band Gimmel. While Lee is restless and fatherless, Leila is ashamed of her appearance. This, in turn, erupts as the sad scourge of today, self-cutting. Leila has another problem: she doesn’t say much at all, but there is a wild emotional storm going on inside the character. All the roles are interestingly twisted.
As it should be in a romantic drama, the young people meet and fall in love, but are forced to flee due to a tragic event. The aim is to almost irrationally search for Lee’s father in some northern forest to help his son in trouble. There, they come across a strange and enigmatic deer hunter, whom Huotari interprets in his second role. The thriller-like plot is not worth revealing any more than this.
Freundlich has skilfully directed the pace and variations of the performance. The urban atmosphere turns into a wilderness of forests, the rough and mundane almost dreamlike. This is aided by Lucie Kuropatova’s ingenious and functional set design, which, under the lights of William Iles , opens up wild, spatial visions. At times, the campfire burns meditatively.
The quartet of actors is brilliantly welded together. The nuances are precise, the strokes are snappy. Leo Honkonen, who is a new acquaintance to me, is really like a modern-day James Dean. Perhaps with an emphasis on ADHD appropriate for the role. Aggressiveness, walking like a captive animal, is accompanied by a beautifully trembling sensitivity.
Ushma Karnani is also very touching, almost shocking in the role of a young woman who does not accept her body. On the other hand, romantic sensitivity and wonderful empathy appear. The character is like a young calf who is afraid and yet trusts. His declarations of love are deeds. That’s why the role is memorable.
Kiiskinen and Huotari are also doing a good job. A very important element passes through them, that is, the transport of the story and the emotions of the characters. They jump from their own roles to the roles of the narrators and back again with lightning exchanges. Kiiskinen’s other role, Marilyn-like Holly Malone, is very delicious. In his character as a mysterious hunter, Huotari interprets the dark sides of humans in a great way.
This performance shows the handprint of a skilled director. The length of the performance, i.e. an hour and forty minutes, is just right. That’s the length of a traditional film. Perhaps Freundlich has the powers of a wizard when he built such a perfect match for the moonlit evenings of April. Alanko’s theme song will be remembered like the howl of a wolf.