Review: Rakkaus

Love with depth and humor

Ari Numminen has enough life experience to honestly make a work about love without making it bigger or smaller than it is.

His new work Love is about love in its different forms and from the point of view of different age groups. The dancers clatter around the stage a little uncertain but gravely serious, while Kai Lähdesmäki breaks out in a passionate wailing.

The contrast between serious themes touched on with a humorous touch is also interesting. A veil-clad bride tells how it would be nice if the man, if he hit, could do it with a little less force. The next moment, the spotlight shines on a Jesus figure discussing divorce with his Mary, which can perhaps be seen as an allusion to the martyrdom one sometimes takes in a relationship.

The evening’s big eye-catcher is Jenni-Elina Lehto , who offers both a crazy drunken interpretation and a parody of an African immigrant. The next moment, she transforms into a gorilla and unleashes the inner animal that we all have inside. These are roles that easily become embarrassing, but Jenni-Elina Lehto is superb and dares to expose herself.

The premiere audience squirms with laughter. The movement language is sharp and straightforward. Ari Numminen succeeds well in bringing out the rough and authentic and thus touching a wide audience.

The set design is simple, as the performance, which is aimed especially at young people, is intended to travel around to different schools and educational institutions.

Numminen has also included some pedagogical elements. A rickety gymnastics ball is thrown onto the stage. The ball tells you that it is fat and is being bullied and that it would like to fall in love. A moment later, it is joined by a smaller ball – even a different young person can find its gelike.

Ari Numminen’s Love is both genuine and humorous, it has depth at the same time as it is down-to-earth.