Review: Paratiisisaari

GREED VS. AUTHENTICITY

If there are still paradises left, tourists and business will find their way there. Greed collides with authenticity. This is what Juha Vakkuri’s interesting play Paratiisisaari, which is performed on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, is about.

On a small island in the Pacific Ocean, a Finnish actor and his wife go through a relationship involving representatives of an American oil company while waiting for the local king to agree to sign a permit to search for black gold. It’s hot, the booze flows and eroticism is there.

Until it stops happening. Americans feel their importance is offended and they respond by occupying a paradise island. The rest is like something straight out of the everyday life of world politics and news imagery.

Vakkuri’s text contains sharp social and global criticism of the world. This is an important and rare feature in a contemporary play. The flashy staging and interpersonal spin slightly erode the message of the performance.

Of the actors, Aino Seppo in particular was in good shape at the premiere as Sonja, an idle artist’s wife mixed with booze and heat.