Review: Onnellinen veli

A happy brother promises good things for Juko

Happy Brother is not a big spectacle, but it is definitely worth enjoying on darkening autumn evenings, a small gem altogether. The one-and-a-half-hour drama, which relies on simple tricks, also bodes well for the future of Teatteri Vanha Juko, as director Linda Wallgren will start at the helm of Juko at the turn of the year. Based on this work sample, he seems to have mastered the art of making small-minded but profound theatre. The text is by Petja Lähde, whose work I have no previous experience with. The script knows that he is a Helsinki-based writer who has risen from his acting career and that The Happy Brother is his second play.

It’s a kind of road trip

There are two brothers. Päiviö is a successful and unhappy businessman, Pyy is a harmless madman locked up in an institution, constantly happy. Pyy is dying of cancer, his non-crazy brother should pass on the news to him. A long journey to the north begins, to the roots. Hailuoto may be home to a father who has abandoned the brothers at birth. It makes for a human-sized comedy that laughs good-naturedly at Finland and the Finnish people. On their journey, Pyy and Päiviö meet, for example, conductor Kari Tapio, Olli Lindholm, who enjoys the bars of Tampere, and Jare Tiihonen, who considers himself Harry Potter. They are all a little twisted, but luckily Pyy has a strange effect on people: he radiates harmony and good mood around him. In this way, the bizarre performance gets to grips with how strange happiness is and how it seems to escape those who are most feverishly looking for it.

The concise text, from which everything unnecessary seems to have been cleaned out, is more reminiscent of a prose poem than a drama, but it is not at all difficult to understand. Wallgren’s playful and subtle episodic direction further emphasizes the absurd undertone of the story. Pertti Koivula and Riitta Havukainen mastered half a dozen roles each well. Koivula thrills as a clown who can’t stop crying (the creators have given the clown the role name Tommi Läntinen). Riitta Havukainen will be remembered as a rough taxi driver. Antti Lang is the wonderfully sympathetic Pyynä, Pekka Huotari the charmingly edgy Päiviö. And the ending, of course, it’s beautiful.