Review: Everstinna
The Colonel – Helsinki City Theatre
The Colonel at the Helsinki City Theatre is a wild study of the opinion of a person who has been mistreated. It examines the relationship of a young girl with an older, violent man, and as a parallel to this story, the relationship between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
Rosa Liksom is one of my oldest literary acquaintances. Maybe even one of the first Finnish authors I’ve read, and this one made a big impression on me as a book in which Liksom clearly continues her trajectory as an increasingly interesting author.
I also read The Colonel just after reading Saima Harmaja’s biography and I recommend this combination to others. Although Harmaja’s life had little in common with The Colonel, it is interesting to explore the spirit of the era in the terrain of these two works.
Due to lack of time, I was about to skip the play at the City Theatre before I read the book. This serves as a good reminder to me how easy it is to miss real gems.
“The joy of Menhe’s life is that it never goes haywire.
Still, nothing will ever disappear.”
The story of the Colonel follows the life of a young poetry girl in the north. The colonel, who is 28 years older than him, takes the girl in his eye and later takes her as his wife. Nazi sympathies unite the couple. They travel to Germany and Helsinki during the course of the story, and the colonel’s monstrosity only grows and grows.
When Nazi Germany does not seem to be successful, the colonel only becomes more violent. Eventually, the Colonel, who ends up in a mental hospital, gets rid of the relationship and finds strength and firmness in herself, which also allows her to start a relationship with her student, who is much younger than herself.
“My father made me the daughter of white Finland, Colonel Nazi. I’m not ashamed of either of them.”
Liksom based the Colonel’s story on a real person. Annikki Kariniemi wrote the book Anatomy of a Marriage about her relationship with a violent general. Kariniemi’s story feels very familiar from the Colonel’s website. A short marriage to a farm boy, a long and violent relationship with a man much older than herself, and finally a controversial relationship with a much younger man. Kariniemi did not reveal which parts of this book are fiction and which are fact. Liksom wrote that the Colonel’s principle was that all of its events could be true.
The small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre has been transformed into the swamp of the north. Director Susanna Airaksinen and set and costume designer Vilma Mattila have used strong and separate elements to create the world of The Colonel. Santeri Kinnunen (based on the voice, I was sure at first that it was his father) and Rauno Ahonen only acted as voice actors, and Heidi Herala takes over the stage alone. Johanna Puuperä’s sound design and composition tie the whole thing together, and especially the gorgeous strings were really ear candy. Lighting designer Vesa Ellilä has brought the lights to support the story, and the lamps always become different things as the play progresses.
I didn’t know exactly what to expect when the play started, but at least I didn’t laugh. Even though I found some comical features in it while reading the book, I assumed it was just due to my own twisted nature. Painful things were brought up in the text and their absurd nature was shown to the point that you can only laugh at them. At some point in the performance, I notice that Herala inspires the audience and we clap the steady rhythm for the demonstration of the excellence of the Third Reich – in front of a huge, flickering swastika.
Herala clearly has a great charisma that could fill the entire stage and get the audience involved in anything, but this seems to give careful space to the text in her performance. The Colonel’s small subtleties come to the fore in Herala’s treatment. The dialect is strong, but understandable, and many of the delicious expressions in the book work naturally in speech. Herala, who marches onto the stage in oversized sunglasses and a big hat, produces echoes of the 90’s Liksom. As if the cover of Kreisland had come to life.
At times, the inner world of the Colonel unfolds as movement, and Herala, who moves on the border of modern dance, stretches into a truly physical role. The Colonel, who is wildly swirling in the power of metal music, is the kind of sight that could well have an iconic reputation in the theatre.
The character of the Colonel seems to be constantly in a bit of a hurry and sometimes I’m afraid that the play will turn into a farce because we’re so used to laughing at drunk characters in this country, as Omppu also writes in her blog. However, the decision now seems justified. The character of the Colonel is strong, but the use of alcohol, among other things, reveals a side of this Colonel that seems to have been broken over the years.
“Someone wise has said that you can only surrender once, but the life I have lived has shown me that you can always surrender again.”
Her strong dedication to the role of the Colonel is understandable, as Herala herself contacted Liksom after reading the book and asked if she could bring it to the theatre stage. This started a process, the fruits of which we can now enjoy.
The play evokes many emotions. Amusement, painful fun, disgust, wonder, admiration, rage and curiosity. At least I left the theatre in the power of the latter, and comparing the life of the Colonel to the rise and fall of Nazi Germany seems historically interesting and scary at the moment.
“Now I think that the Nazis didn’t end with Hitler killing themselves, but always when they give in to the possibility, new Nazis and Vasists are born, because that’s how man is. Let’s repeat the same thing and expect a different outcome. In each of us dwell the works of love and mercy side by side with cruelty, heartlessness and recklessness.”
More information about the play can be found on the Helsinki City Theatre website here. It is an intimate work in which you should be prepared for very raw themes. The same intimate atmosphere also makes this great story very emotional. However, Herala’s wild and strong performance combined with Liksom’s physically shaking text is the strongest reason to see this play. This is the kind of transformation of the word into flesh, which is a bit sinful to enjoy.
“I’m a full-grown woman, a female moose who has seen a lot, of which I had had no idea. I always thought that I was a sphagnum moss floating in vinegary water or some kind of cow by nature, but I grew up to be a handsome horned head who looks at everyone I meet with such eyes that this worm almost stops.”