Review: Mestariluokka

This is ART

Who says what good and right kind of art is like? Throughout the ages, dictators have wanted art and artists to support their goals.
In the play Masterclass on the stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, Joseph Stalin himself (Lasse Pöysti) with Andrei Zhdanov (Martti Suosalo), the chairman of the post-war control commission, wants to get Sergei Prokofiev (Esko Roine) and Dmitri Shostakovich (Asko Sarkola) to act according to their own taste.


In Kurt Nuotio’s skilful direction, anxiety on stage increases, but we viewers just laugh – we ordinary citizens who sheepishly follow the arbitrariness of those in power. Fortunately, however, you can laugh in the Master Class, because if you started crying for artists and all those who have fallen into the grip of dictators, the crying would not stop.