Review: Mestari
The Master play at the Helsinki City Theatre
“A real play for book people!” I think I shouted to my blogger friend Suketus when we left the stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on Friday into a rainy evening. We had just been invited guests with our companions to the Finnish premiere of Daniel Kehlmann’s play The Master, and at least I was impressed.
November is getting to the point where I didn’t really have time to delve into what would be on offer during the evening. Delighted, I just took the opportunity to get a little luxury in my everyday life and set off with my friend with an open mind.
Afterwards, I read the script carefully and also searched the internet for more information about the author behind the play. Daniel Kehlmann is a German-born Austrian writer who has published several novels, short story collections, essays and poems, and two plays. The forty-year-old writer has also worked as a literary critic and poetry teacher. Kehlmann has received several awards for his literary work. So far, three of the novels have been translated into Finnish: Minä ja Kaminski (Tammi, 2013), Maailma mittaajat (Tammi, 2011) and Maine (Tammi, 2007).
The Master is set in a remote residence, where the curator of the Fine Arts Foundation, Erwin (Jouko Klemettilä), has to take care of his thankless task of leading a five-day mentoring session. The young and promising playwright Martin Wegner (Iikka Forss), who has been described as the voice of the generation, has been invited to be mentored by the old master of the field, Benjamin Rubin (Taneli Mäkelä). It quickly becomes apparent that neither of the authors has agreed to attend for altruistic reasons alone.
Rubin has written his best play at the age of 24, and of course the situation does not seem flattering to the aged writer. Martin Wegner’s wife Gina (Sanna-June Hyde) immediately declares herself to be a great admirer of Rubin and his masterpiece. The Wegners’ marriage seems to be strained by a situation where the wife earns money and the husband tries to make a breakthrough as a playwright.
The starting point is therefore tense in all respects. Further conflict is created by a prologue of a few sentences, in which Martin fondly recalls his first encounter with Rubin. Martin is about to accept an award named after Rubin. When you then quickly cut to that first encounter, the setting is anything but warm. When the mentoring then begins with the slaughter of Martin’s new play, the miniature hell is soon unleashed. The artists tear each other apart, the spouses open up the pain points of their marriage, and the curator Erwin makes his own tough decisions.
In the heat of all this, Kehlmann skillfully the entire art world, from critics to writers and readers. In the auditorium, it was quite annoying that it is almost impossible to get quotes from the play! For example, when it comes to criticism, Rubin says that good books get good reviews, bad books get bad reviews, good ones get bad ones and bad ones get good ones, because you know what kind of people are working in editorial offices. Of course, that’s how it is. And that Martin has to write because he has become a writer. In other respects, too, many pieces of wisdom have been put into Rubin’s mouth that probes the core of artistry. I enjoyed these throws to the fullest. Similarly, the analysis of the Wegners is razor-sharp in the play.
The stage on Pengerkatu is small and intimate, and the Master worked well on it. The visual atmosphere is dilapidated and dreary. For a long time, I wondered why there was a small round pool of water in the middle of the stage, into which I was afraid several times that one of the actors would accidentally step. The function of the water basin was finally revealed, in proper Chekhovian style. Since the interior is actually a bit depressing with its earthy colors, the costumes are as a counterbalance to colorful, albeit thoughtful. A fun detail is the glasses, which have been used to emphasize the personalities of the characters in a small but visible way.
I will write last about the actors, but not because they are somehow insignificant as a whole. On the contrary, the cast of the play is stunning. Taneli Mäkelä is wonderful as a slick, very charming diva if he wants to, but on the other hand, a really tiring diva. It was confusing to think, while enjoying his performance, that while the Master has been being rehearsed, the performances of the play Breaking the Waves have been running at full speed. How do you do such different roles and at the same time?!
Iikka Forss also does his role as an artist who completely loses his self-confidence and composure. The artist’s wife, who is adapted to the role of the muse and struggling to get rid of it, played by the fresh face Sanna-June Hyde very well, is also interesting. Jouko Klemettilä fits perfectly into his caricature-like role as an amanuensis or cultural secretary. The chemistry seems to work together brilliantly, which of course also goes to director Kari Heiskanen.
I also liked the compactness of the play. The advantage of one-act is that the voltage is preserved, as the suction cannot be diluted due to the intermission. The hour-and-quarter-hour play is a suitable one-time dose at least for a weekday evening.