Review: Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot shines with hope for a new generation

Directed by Markku Nenonen for the Helsinki City Theatre, the musical does not flutter or squirm at all. The little boy’s boxing gloves are exchanged for ballet slippers between the striking miners and the riot police.

Billy Elliot is a disarming and heartfelt musical. It is also like that as a film. In the dual role of director and choreographer, Markku Nenonen holds on to the social background of Lee Hall’s script in Thatcher’s Britain in 1984–1985. At that time, miners and the transport industry went on strike for a year.

The reason for this was the strict economic policy of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which privatised state-owned companies and closed coal mines in the North. Billy Elliot is also a strange bird, a hybrid: a working-class musical. Set in the black mining town of Durham, the work strips glitter and feathers from the genre. The hopelessness and rage of the unemployed and hungry miners is only cut short by the sing-alongs written by Lee Hall and composed by Sir Elton John: Solidarity and Merry Christmas by Maggie Thatcher. Battle songs resound on the shores of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. The common front is sung like in Aulikki Oksanen’s song “Kenen joukoissa seisot” in the 1970s.

Due to the renovation, the Helsinki City Theatre, which is being evacuated from the Peacock Theatre in Linnanmäki, will get a big feather in its cap from Billy Elliot. Undoubtedly, the book aptly reflects the social contract advocated by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä for Finland and the contradictory moods and confrontations that are widely fuelled by the troubled global economy and the flow of refugees to Europe. The concept of the social contract is inherited specifically from Britain in the 1970s. However, the musical has not been harnessed. Things are already at the heart of it. The work of director Markku Nenonen, who has a strong dance background, does not remain in the air, but marches to the barricades with the heavy boots of a miner and the logo of the British National Mining Union on his back. The speeches are as rough and direct as the reactions.

Billy Elliot is a Cinderella story and a children’s musical. It is even daring in how strong its multi-skilled child roles are. The 12-year-old title character is looking for his own way and the courage to express his identity. Billy’s best friend Michael does the same in his own way. Boxing gloves are exchanged for ballet shoes amid violent clashes between striking miners and riot police. The disarming musical is made all by the conquering child actors who give their all. You can’t help but like them. The director-choreographer and the rest of the team know how to let the children party on stage. At the premiere, the audience was melted by Lassi Hirvonen (b. 2002), who has a background in street dancing in the role of Billy Elliot. In the role of Michael, who likes dresses, Kasperi Virta (b. 2003) pampered and charmed the audience.

These young performers, who have been given a great opportunity, embody exactly what the musical is about at the same time. To give the new generation hope and try, the musical says. Children have their own dreams and solutions beyond adults. A big hand for tolerance and empathy in these times. Oulu colour will be brought to the stage by dancer Unto Nuora, who plays the role of a muppet-like rehearsal pianist, and Sami Paasila, who graduated from the dance programme of the Oulu Conservatory, and who has just been hired by Helsinki Dance Company.