Review: Kohtauksia eräästä avioerosta

DIVORCE OR NOT?

Australian marriage drama kicks off autumn season in Helsinki

Marriage is an institution whose inexhaustible subject matter attracts writers again and again. Australians Andrew Bovell and Hannie Rayson have worked on the play Scenes from a Divorce as a process in which each has written their part alone and the other has not been interfered with.
The story takes place in the world of publishing, where a small family business provides an excellent vantage point for the operating periods. There are siblings with their own problems and a mother who burdens her children with her constant visits.
In addition to the problems of marriage, there is also a conflict between generations, with its disagreements in both relationships and publishing.
The intervals between the activity periods are monologues, thoughts about the past. The reminiscence of the first act is a husband, and the second is a wife. Both recap the same events and conversations, but according to the experiencer, the emphases are completely different.
The authors have divided the work so that Bovell has done the man’s point of view monologues and Rayson the wife.
The text is precise, the emotions and moods flutter thorny in the action sections, but become sensitive in the monologues.

The performance, directed by Frej Linqvist, is moving. The characters compete for their own space and position, and this manifests itself on stage both through the text and in the physical taking of space.

Is any choice the right one?

The casting is quite excellent. Carl-Kristian Rundman’s husband and publishing manager Mathew passes by his family without even noticing. In publishing, he is not ready to give space to the new generation. And when the wife finally pushes past in her literary activities, the marriage is put to the test.
Rundman makes his character juicy masculine, but still leaves the wounds visible.

Jonna Järnefelt’s expression in the role of Tina’s wife is apt and even flamboyant in tight spots, but the slight coolness throughout makes the character a little anemic.

Oskari Katajisto is Mathew’s brother, whose basic mission in life seems to be chasing women. Katajisto overshoots a bit when he turns a man who is sensitive to his mouth into a type who also cultivates physically unpleasant gestures. Thrown spikes are dulled by excessive presentation.

Leena Uotila is delicious in her role as the boys’ booze-drinking mother. The contradiction between the horrible appearance and the person making accurate observations pulsates bloodily.

Pekka Laiho is the person whose biography his wife Tina is working on. Laiho is the character who has been able to change in his life. Despite the politician’s position at stake, he wants everything to be recorded – even the side that would not stand the light of day. Laiho does an internalized and wise role.
The start of the Helsinki City Theatre’s performance season is basic theatre, the subject of which touches everyone in some way. Basic questions about love, the end of love, starting over and betrayal. In the auditorium, you can have your own reflection on the cast’s choices. Is any choice absolutely right?