Review: Everstinna
The Strong and Controversial Colonel – Heidi Herala’s Interpretation Finds the Nuances of Rosa Liksom’s Novel
Theatre Review: Rosa Liksom’s The Colonel made a great impression on Heidi Herala. Now the novel will be seen at the Helsinki City Theatre as Herala’s multifaceted monologue.
Rosa Liksom’s The Colonel offered a strong reading experience when it was published. In Finnish history, it turned its gaze to people who aligned themselves with Nazi Germany and were intoxicated by the destructive propaganda. It also delved into broken people, sadistic subjugation and surrender to a deceptive enchantment.
Actress Heidi Herala was so impressed by the novel that she wanted to play the role of the Colonel on stage. Now the performance can be seen at the Helsinki City Theatre as Herala’s multifaceted monologue.
The working group’s cooperation is impressive. Susanna Airaksinen’s direction, Vilma Mattila’s set design and Johanna Puuperä’s music and sound design conjure up a Lapland on stage that is both magical and tragic.
The dominant stage image is a swamp framed by dead tree trunks. In the middle of the swamp there is a spring, which in Sámi mythology is often a sacred place. On the edge of the swamp is the colonel’s home: a chair and a few pieces of clothing.
In Liksom’s novel, the time span is long, from the 1930s to the war years and the following decades.
It is not possible to include everything in a play. Thus, the dramaturgy includes the colonel’s memories and fragments of her conflict-filled life. It is an advantage for the viewer if the book has been read, because the story rushes forward quickly through several decades. There are many gaps in the Colonel’s story, but even human memory does not work flawlessly chronologically.
The first act offers an initial high. The Colonel is enchanted by the ideas of White Finland and her brother-in-arms Germany without too much of a bite of them. It is the spirit of the times that floods the ears of the colonel, both from her home background and from the charmer colonel.
Herala dances, jumps and bounces on the stage, carried away by everything tempting. Instincts and strong sexuality arise from the Colonel’s memories. The colonel comes and takes what he wants.
The second act turns everything around. The enchantment fades away. The cruelty of society, wars and prison camps are slammed against the Colonel’s face. The colonel also reveals his other face, the face of a cruel and sadistic abuser. In that conversation, the Colonel’s only escape route is a breakdown and a hospital.
Herala’s interpretation of the Colonel, who ends up in a dead end, is strong acting. At times, he also jumps into the colonel’s shoes, although the voice of the colonel is Santeri Kinnunen, whose mouth in the background can be heard with both flattery and evil.
In a television interview, Rosa Liksom was asked how anyone can blindly submit to being abused. Liksom replied that the abuser doses appropriate doses of flattery and promises. In this way, the other person can fall under his spell over and over again.
This perspective has also been reached in the play, even though such behaviour cannot be endured indefinitely.
When The Colonel was published, the role models of the characters in the book were discussed. When watching a play, role models have no meaning. It’s a nicely executed cruel story in a cruel time.