Review: Järki ja tunteet
Money doesn’t buy love, but it doesn’t hurt either
Helsinki City Theatre’s Austen is sweet entertainment
Elinor Dashwood is reason, sister Marianne is emotions. Jane Austen, the sensible romantic, shows that a necessary marriage requires both reason and emotion, and that a girl must also be allowed to have her say.
The fresh and acclaimed American dramatization (2011) is a film script with rapidly changing scenes.
The direction does not make use of a revolving stage, but the characters sweep from one scene to another in a circular motion. The events are attached to a white closet that serves as a cloakroom, porch or even a bed.
The siblings play with a skeleton-shadow puppet, which rises in a few places to symbolize fears; In a simplified visualisation, the pile of sand represents childhood and home.
Happy, of course
The comedy of manners from 1811 highlights how the future of a woman from the upper social classes lies in marriage.
The content of mothers’ lives is market success; For daughters, love is the most important thing, usually, but everyone is interested in money. Always!
The roles of the 13-piece ensemble in period costumes include a number of relatives, friends, acquaintances and groom candidates of Elinor and Marianne.
The long-term dramatization focuses entirely on love relationships: a recommendation for lovers of romantic comedies.
There is a bit of funny irony in simple characters like Mrs. Dashwood, who is stuck in Heidi Herala’s obsession with marriage. His greedy daughter-in-law, Ursula Salo, is a walking calculator.
Pekka Strang Marianne’s passion is a handsome scoundrel who at least confesses his sins. Ville Tiihonen maintains Marianne’s fate, Colonel Brandon’s tenacious naughtiness, in a restrained manner.
Mika Piispa interprets Elinor’s Edward’s social awkwardness and laborious love struggle with hilariously inhibited expressions and gestures.
Sara Melleri picks out defiant protest and recognizable teenage melodrama from Marianne with nuances timed to the present day, peppering Austen’s lines.
Elinor, the beacon of ideal sisterly love, is so terribly noble that the psychological credibility of the role is a challenge. Kreeta Salminen holds back deep emotions in a casual and quick-witted way.
Her moderately precise work carries the performance to the desired level: a sincere, humorous, epoch-wrapped interpretation of emotions with no real flavor or sentimentality.