Review: Vastanaineet

Through the 1920s from this time – hersyen

From the beginning, it felt like Mikko Kivinen was on stage. However, Kivinen only climbed onto the stage after the curtain had fallen, when the actors returned to pop for the second time. Kivinen had “only” directed a performance of Newlyweds for the Helsinki City Theatre.


The newlyweds were so Mikko Kivinen, so Mikko Kivinen.

The text was, of course, by the writer of the play, but the way it was performed – the gestures, the facial expressions – was Kivinen himself.

Of course, it’s worth considering whether such a strong director’s “mark” is a good thing. It didn’t bother me, quite the opposite.

Newlyweds is such a comedy that I don’t wonder at all why the theatre had hired Mikko Kivinen to be responsible for bringing it to the stage for the umpteenth time. If such a comedy had to be dug out of naphthalene, it was entrusted to the right hands.

On the big stage, we returned to the 1920s, to the aristocratic and gentlemanly atmosphere of the English. The intention was to celebrate the silver wedding anniversaries of three couples at the same time. However, nothing goes as planned. The story is multi-generational. There’s no point in revealing more about the plot here.

Of course, one may wonder why such a comedy from the beginning of the century should be included in the programme. There are more recent ones, as I understand it. This can be done because it is one way to tell your point. One habit among others – and just as useful. Which was proven.

For: Hypocrisy, intolerance, double standards, contempt for others are unfortunately not the property of any age. It’s just that the phenomena take on a different appearance today than they did almost a century ago.

When we laughed at J. B. Priestley’s couples from the 1920s, we laughed at features that have certainly not disappeared. Whether we admit it or not, they are just as well today.

We can also say that the second feature of human nature that the author also expresses is just as well a timeless phenomenon. Priestley’s intention was hardly to act as a moral preacher, but the truths that he has given to the representatives of the “lower class” in the play are also valid in any time. We could remember the best of things and each other. That’s an example of that thinking.

An actor often gets a stamp on his forehead. Risto Kaskillahti has one as a brilliant comedian, so it is clear that he excels in this play as well. What is more surprising, however, is that Sari Mällinen , who plays his wife, is so excellent that the place steals the whole show at times. A woman can get so nervous, as well as move so chicken-like.


Antti Litja – he can’t do anything but shine, especially in the role of a drunkard.