Review: Ollako vai ei
Comedy handsomely
Helsinki City Theatre
Good comedies sometimes seem to be under a rock, but when one ended up in Kivinen’s hands, the result was more than a play on words. Mikko Kivinen’s direction at the Helsinki City Theatre is joyful, we’d rather be than not. The episodes are scrolled briskly, you “have to” laugh a lot. That laughter sometimes sticks to the throat is meant to be, as Nick Whitby’s drama-comedy moves in events that swim in the black waters of history. The story takes place during World War II and the occupation of Poland.
It is not easy in theatres (either) in exceptional circumstances, not anywhere in the world. It is possible to speak the truth through art, but the opponent’s reaction is faster than thought. Closing the mouth/theater is always a risk.
The play To Be or Not does not look for reasons deeply. But it is still no less influential. The reliance of those in power on external signs, manipulation with mantras and uniforms is related to the art of theatre. A mask on your face can grow your ego even bigger. Ultimately, however, the “commanding maidens” are thorns in the flesh of those in power.
The Polish stage, a small theatre troupe, lives its life in the shadow of an external threat. Your own performance on stage is the most important thing, the audience’s popularity or lack of care about it saves or ruins the day. Until the performances are no longer allowed and we find out about a blacklist sent to the Nazis, which also has the names of the actors. The Gestapo is a threat to Maria Tura, the diva of the theatre, among others.
The plot unfolds like in a suspense play, but on the terms of the comedians. The troupe puts all their acting skills on the line to get the above-mentioned the list. Each is given different Nazi-themed characters to crush their threateners. The team is serious but nervous, the opposing camp is uncertain and even more nervous. The audience is strong, it knows…
The play has excellent roles, of which the title is irresistibly taken by Pertti Sveholm. A gifted comedian, a multi-talented interpreter, he throws himself into the shoes of Jósef Tura with curiosity and insight. An actor’s understanding of a fictional colleague is self-evident. If someone in the audience leaves in the middle of Hamlet’s monologue – even if not because of a poor performance, but because of a secret affair, for example – then it is now stunning from the performer’s point of view! Sveholm the artist Turana, who imagines himself great and whose professional pride has been insulted, is an eternal little boy and quite attractively he is.
Tiina Lymi also takes home the points. The adored actress, Jósef’s wife Maria, shuttles between her “Hamlet” and her lovers as usual, and Lymi is not at all hard pressed to keep up. Your comedies are in their element, you can’t just pour over the edges. She also decorates – and in what style – the most beautiful creations of the costumes.
As Colonel Erhard, the commander of the Gestapo in Warsaw, Jouko Klemettilä lets loose. In his brilliant interpretation, his splendid expressions and his breathless verbality, the possible and the impossible blend together. Crazy!
Jari Pehkonen is also wonderfully off the ground as Dowatz, a director who delves into the highest spheres of his art. And Jarkko Miettinen, who plays the Polish pilot Stanislav Sobinski, is endearingly convincing as a young man who is overly in love with Maria.
The implementation with its own audience-friendly tricks says a lot of universal things. Perhaps the most important thing is that it shows how the community is strengthened, forgetting its mutual disputes and other irrelevant things when danger threatens. Beautiful, diligent work and unrelenting presence are seen from the whole group.