Review: Viivi ja Wagner

YOU CAN’T WATCH IT WITHOUT LAUGHING

The proposal, whose working group includes a “snout manager”, must be different, at least a little bit piggybacking. And Wagner is. Together with Viivi and the women of previous generations, who have an edge – or whatever you could half-heartedly call it – she makes the Finnish man she represents look less salon-worthy. When you take the father-in-law from the family, Julli and Fylli, and Satan himself from the afterlife, there will be a ride for the audience.


The conquest of Juba Tuomola’s comic book characters can be greeted with joy, if only because of the rarity of the phenomenon. This does not happen in Finland with a high frequency of ashes. After all, the vitality of fictional characters created for another purpose does not carry over the ramp as a matter of course. Now it carries me, and what could be nicer.

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Undoubtedly, both Viivi and Wagner are boldly sketched images of today’s people, the prototypes of which many people actually remember from their relatives or acquaintances from the time when their father bought the lamp. As an artist, Tuomola is of course well overdone, and Tiina Puumalainen has enthusiastically grabbed this comedy string that is suitable for theatre and pulled it with a proper grip. A new genre of comedy has emerged, if not a new genre of comedy, at least a subgenre.

Wagner’s popularity on stage is probably largely based on the fact that he is perceived as a “good guy” who lives in the depths of even the most shabby couch potato. In exactly the same way, many people burp at home and just as many would like to but don’t dare. Our outhouses are also full of women like Viivi – the backbone of homes is thus particularly flexible, yielding, even if it sometimes makes noise. But as equality progresses, it is no wonder that Wagner’s disease is also lurking around women’s spiked heels…

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There is joy and play in the production, all the way to the stage design, costumes, music and choreography. It sometimes knocks you out with its audacity, but delights with its element of surprise, skilled acting and humour, which is triggered by a great understanding of the twists and turns of human life and behavioural patterns.


Sari Siikander and Risto Kaskilahti pull off the title roles as expressively as they do with suppleness and lightness, but in such a way that the viewer is convinced of the mutual warmth and excitement that underpins the relationship between Viivi and Wagner.

A karaoke night in hell – the strangest dreams you can have – are the highlights of the play, but the performance culminates in a visit from relatives. Pia Runnako has a delicious role as a grandmother, and she manages it with full points. Of course, not without the strong and self-indulgent presence of the whole group.

The icing on the cake is Heidi Herala’s exhilarating mother-in-law’s detachment. Viivi’s mother is whispering like the best sparring partner. The wig is swinging, the lines are flying like May Day balls, and ouch, what a legjob – no doubt you can stay in the rings like that…