Review: Ei makseta, ei makseta
Not paid, not paid – a sad farce about cheapening
By far the funniest farce of the autumn is Helsinki City Theatre’s No Payment, No Payment. There is plenty of speed and mishaps when practical nurse Helena (Eija Vilpas) and many others start to buy cheaper food in the store, tired of the ever-rising price of food.
In practice, lowering prices means marching past the checkout without paying for their purchases. This leads to many funny mishaps as the police start raiding apartments in search of stolen purchases.
They try to hide their purchases in the most imaginative places: under the bed, in the shed of the allotment garden and under clothes. Let’s also get excited to feast on dog food and rabbit heads in the play. All in all, there are countless laughter-inducing scenes on stage before things are happily resolved.
The comedy master’s work is surprisingly topical
The subject of the play, written by Italian director Dario Fo more than 40 years ago, is still very much on the cutting edge of the times. For that, we can certainly also thank the play’s translator and arranger Pentti Järvinen and director Pentti Kotkaniemi.
Cheapening, buying with bonuses and co-operation negotiations have ended up in the play straight from the latest news headlines. The postmen’s lawn mowing has also been added to the mix.
The best of the evening will be performed by Pertti Koivula, Ville Tiihonen and Eija Vilpas. Koivula is certainly one of the masters of farce roles at the moment. His comedy skills have already been enjoyed in several plays, such as The Problem of Seriousness.
In this play, too, the skills come to the fore brilliantly: Koivula’s “aatsuwenga” straight from the Lion King elicits the biggest laughs of the evening.
Ville Tiihonen, on the other hand, challenges himself in four different roles. Sometimes he is relaxed and solidarity, and at other times he is a tight-lipped policeman, a darkly frightening funeral man or a clown-millionaire old man.
Tiihonen’s amazing fainting number with his loss of sight is a wonderful performance. In these roles, he really shows his versatility as an actor.
Button selection in the lead role
It’s exhilarating to see Eija Vilpas in the lead role. In many previous plays, he has only been seen in a supporting role. Vilpas fits her role like a glove: Helena, a slightly silly and kind-hearted practical nurse, worries about the weighing of diapers for the elderly in care institutions, citing reasons for savings.
Small and funny roles were also played by Paavo Lipponen, commenting from the closet, and the hilarious doorman, who, in his familiar skirt, spun off the stage to the music.
Although the subject matter of the play was fundamentally heavy, it had been turned into a fast-paced farce with no empty moments. After the play, the cheapening of the S Group can no longer be taken very seriously.