Review: Grönholms metod
After conquering Europe and Latin America, the Catalan playwright Jordi Galceran’s hit play Grönholm’s Method (El mètode Grönholm, 2003) has now had its premiere on the stage of Lilla Teatern, directed by Pentti Kotkaniemi.
The performance begins with a young man in a dark suit entering a stylish but impersonal meeting room in a skyscraper on Diagonal in Barcelona. The multinational, Swedish interior design group Dekia is looking for leadership candidates, and the ambitious Ferran Augé is the first to arrive. Afterwards, three more candidates – two men, one woman – arrive to compete for the coveted post. But this job interview turns out to be more of a convoluted psychological test where the candidates’ identities, whether true or assumed, are put to the test. And where are the interviewers?
Grönholm’s Method was performed in Swedish at the Theatre Academy last year, but Lillan is the first professional stage in the Nordic countries to stage it. And of course, Lillan can congratulate herself for picking up a gem. The special thing about this play is the intricate plot, where the viewer can rarely guess what is coming or can trust the changing statements that the characters give about themselves. As in the worst detective story, the viewer has to constantly revise their perceptions of the characters because they resort to one lie after another to stay in the game. The author spins on with this tension and withholds the revelation until the very end. Fortunately, the show has no intermission that could upset the tension.
Lillan’s ensemble succeeds nicely in portraying the different types of people as well as the different attitudes and masks that the characters juggle with. All four manage to make the viewer unsure of who is telling the truth. Pekka Strang impresses as the burly and straightforward Ferran Augé – he skillfully and energetically portrays the frustration that pours out of his character in the face of all the humiliating tests they are forced to go through. Carl-Kristian Rundman constantly brings out laughter with his nervous and hilarious Enric Font, while Sampo Sarkola has a more sober yet comical role as Carles Bueno. Jonna Järnefelt also convinces as the empathetic but also cold businesswoman Mercè Degàs.
In addition to the fact that it has its obvious comic merits, one can discern a more serious subtext in the play. The audience is given a satirical insight into how complex recruitment processes have become in today’s profit-obsessed, global corporate culture, where people and their true selves are caught in the middle, whether they are in Barcelona, Stockholm or Helsinki. Also close at hand are the parallels to TV formats such as Big Brother (and of course Diili or The Apprentice) where this “culture of competition” – who escapes being voted out? Who betrays their buddy? – comes into all our living rooms.
Although the references to Barcelona are relatively few, the plot is anchored to reality by the fact that it is located in the capital of Catalonia. In Lillan’s version, a painting by Miró on the wall and the newspaper El Pais serve as markers. Even though the events and tests are becoming more and more mind-boggling and unbelievable, one must assume that this is happening in a real world, a real city, after all. And it’s pretty obvious which real company the name Dekia refers to. This anchoring – with universal implications – gives the play strength.
Lillans Grönholm’s method is a breath of fresh air in the spring-winter repertoire – a well-written and funny comedy that is supported by nuanced and energetic acting and that is also thought-provoking. Newly written Catalan theatre is not exactly one of the most common, so take the opportunity to go and see who gets the furthest in the hunt for the job with a capital J!
Bettina Saarela