Review: Gagarinin tie
Great black comedy
Theatre Studio Pasila, Helsinki City Theatre: Gregory Burke, Gagarin’s Road. Translated by Sami Parkkinen, directed by Maarit Ruikka, set design by Kaisa Niva, costumes by Sari Suominen, lighting by Teppo Saarinen, sound design and music by Ari-Pekka Saarikko. Cast: Jouko Klemettilä, Mika Nuojua, Panu Vauhkonen, Matti Olavi Ranin.
Sometimes you leave the theatre with mixed feelings. Not now. I’ve laughed. And then the laughter has stopped. And I don’t ask why, because the story has justified itself. So bright, such a genuine social analysis and full-bodied theatre made with few portraits but with an even more careful examination!
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Scottish writer Gregory Burken, born in 1968, is delighted to welcome to the ranks of the most interesting contemporary dramatists. His play The Way of Gagarin is currently taking over stages all over Europe and will soon jump lightly to other continents as well.
Kidnapping is a crime that in itself has nothing comical, quite the opposite. But here it takes on a lot of comical features. Two factory workers kidnap one of their leaders, who turns out to be not only wrong but also an embarrassing man in every way. The capitalist, as frustrated as the anarchists who plan to kill him, will water down the whole act.
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The author laughs at ideologies from all sides, from communism, of which the street sign of the former industrial area still reads Gagarin’s Road, to existentialism and many other theories and ideologies.
But he doesn’t laugh at a person in this jungle of concepts and his bad feelings. On the contrary, through the confusion of the individuals he depicts, their interpretations and numerous simplifications, he manages to direct the viewer’s empathy towards the object where it should be. Self-deception is familiar to everyone as one of the ways to survive, and old weapons do not help in the fight against the windmills of globalisation. Nor are the new ones.
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Maarit Ruikka’s direction is tense and the atmosphere of the performance is upward and charged. The casting couldn’t be more successful. Jouko Klemettilä gives one of the best, if not the best, performances so far as Eddie, who is fascinated by violence. The actor has gone inside this restless, intellectually fast, but psychologically disturbed character in a downright frightening way. He is Eddie, including new facial expressions, uncontrollable chuckles and nervous movements.
Panu Vauhkonen is appealing as a slower, boastful yes, but basically kind and childlike Gary, who imagines that he can achieve a heroic deed with such a massive demonstration as a kidnapping. And Mika Nuojua offers this duo an excellent counterforce as a young student whose fate accidentally throws him into a dangerous situation due to his duties as a security guard. Nuojua’s small-minded comedy works irresistibly.
And I have never seen Matti Olavi Ranin as simplified, purely interpretive as now as Frankina, who defies anarchism in the same way as life itself.
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The end of the play is rough, and therefore it cannot be recommended in any way to a very young audience. Young adults, on the other hand, made up the majority of the audience in the audience. And no wonder. The book speaks the language of Sami Parkkonen, as an excellent Finnish translation.
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The story describes the mining background of its characters. Finland has also had its miners both in its own country and as immigrants in America. I can’t resist mentioning this unifying feature, nor another, somehow so familiar. When asked if his play reflects the crisis of masculinity in any way, according to a program leaflet, Gregory Burke replied:
“We don’t have that in Scotland. We just get drunk and fight with each other. This has been going on for years.