Review: Hitchcock ja blondi
ON THE TRAIL OF HITHCOCK’S MYSTICAL BLONDE
Terry Johnson. Hitchcock and the blonde. Translated by Kersti Juva. Director: Neil Hardwick. Costumes: Elina Kolehmainen. Set design and projections: Antti Mattila. Lights and projections: Juha Westman. Cast: Carl-Kristian Rundman, Sanna-June Hyde, Mari Perankoski, Mikko Kivinen and Kari Mattila. Finnish premiere on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 27.1.2005.
Alfred Hitchcock’s fascination with blondes has been a topic of discussion among film scholars for decades. The heroines of the master have often been coolly beautiful, genuine or bleached actresses.
The play Hitchcock and the Blonde, written by Terry Johnson, delves into the problem of blondes with the help of a never-before-seen film version from 1919.
In the background of the performance on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, projections swirl like film screens. The music is borrowed from Hitchcock films and it colours the tensions perfectly.
The play tries to rescue film reels found in caches frame by frame in the Greek archipelago, where researcher and teacher Alex has lured his student Nicola to help. In addition to saving the film treasure, Alex is also interested in his relationship with young Nicola, who is initially shuddered at the thought due to the age difference.
Together, this duo weaves together a plot of the few pieces they can salvage. Through these plot ideas, the master himself rises to the stage. The frame related to filming imaginary scenes alternates with the research of passionate film freaks.
Cinematography on stage
The background of the stage is created by three levels, on which the landscapes and also the rescued screens are reflected. The live background serves as a set for the actors, but it also creates atmospheres and carries the plot along with the stage events.
On a fairly bare stage, you work with rising and falling floor levels. There are usually only two people in the scenes.
Carl-Kristian Rundman’s The purely cinematic archaeological work of Alex and Sanna-June Hyden Nicola gains additional wings as eroticism grows between them.
Rundman is a charmingly lost-looking researcher, whose character is twirled around in the play’s text in a Hitchcock-like manner. Rundman holds the text lightly in his grasp and makes his character come to life for real.
Hyde’s young student girl is present in a fresh way. The attentive work outlines an inner world that grows and matures towards the end.
Mikko Kivinen manages to create a good-looking Hitchcock. Slow replication and gestures imitating their role model hit the spot.
Mari Perankoski’s aspiring blonde is naïve and surprising.
Directed by Neil Hardwick , the performance is cinematic on many levels. The dense scene shots, which are almost nailed in place, are cut like film on its editing table. The music and effects accentuate this cinematic vibe.
Hardwick has captured the image of an English, somewhat dusty world, in which death and sexuality strike sharp thorns.