Review: Fanny ja Alexander

The long-awaited Fanny and Alexander was full of the enchantment and magic of the theatre – Ingmar Bergman’s beloved story was told on the theatre’s own terms – The play was a strong act in all aspects of the theatre performance

Helsinki City Theatre’s Fanny and Alexander has certainly been one of the most anticipated plays of the autumn. At Thursday’s premiere, these expectations were also rewarded handsomely. The play was strong and high-quality work in all aspects of the theatre performance. We, the spectators, were downright pampered with more and more beautiful scenes and stage images.

Even though as a spectator you certainly don’t understand all the fine nuances of theatre, Fanny and Alexander also passed the unfailing test of time worthy of a full ten. Even though the premiere stretched out to almost four hours, including intermissions and ceremonies related to the premiere, every moment spent in the audience felt meaningful.

The ingredients for this strong theatrical experience were Ingmar Bergman’s ingeniously constructed story, a deeply thought-out adaptation, fine direction, acting that draws its strength from the City Theatre’s strong sense of community, the handsome and functional scenography of Antti Mattila and co., as well as magnificent music and soundscapes.

Director Paavo Westerberg and his team have not been caught prisoners of the beloved film directed by Bergman himself. On the stage of the City Theatre, the story of this boy and his sister, graced with wild imagination, was told in the theatre’s own way. This play had a lot of that inexplicable, but all the more powerful magic of theatre – the magic of theatre.

Bergman’s story is such a masterfully constructed and psychologically accurate description of a child’s world that the use of narrators in the play was also well justified. In this play, abundance was one of its impressive means of expression.

In Bergman’s story, a talented son escapes from his stern father’s authoritarian upbringing into an imaginary world, where the Ekdahl family and the theatre community founded by the family are real life, and reality, a nightmare in a rather gloomy vicarage that began through his mother’s new marriage. Bergman’s own father was a priest and a severely authoritarian disciplinarian educator.

The play started from the same point as the movie. The Ekdahl family and their friends had gathered to celebrate Christmas. The scene created by Westerberg and his ensemble, in which Olavi Uusivirta, who played the role of Alexander Ekdahl, danced dressed as a ballerina on a table set with Christmas delicacies to the delight of the festivities, was masterful. In the first section, it was juxtaposed with a stage image in which Bishop Edward Vergerus, in the form of Eero Aho, sat alone in the middle of a huge deserted space.

Theatre is art made by the community, and in the joyful opening scene, this sense of community took on a very concrete form. In the words of Alexander in the play, this family talks, hugs and sometimes even argues fiercely. In contrast, there were stage images of the harsh desolation of Vergerus’ episcopal castle. In this real world, there is no talking or arguing, because there is no need to justify power. It comes as a given.

In the last scene of the play, the Ekdahl family gathers around the table again. The children Alexander and Fanny and their mother have been rescued and the family has gone through hardship to victory. However, all is not well. The world has changed. It is evening and there is a night ahead that will unleash the forces of evil. The speech given by Gustav Ekdahl, the family’s businessman and the positive optimist of the story, was shocking as interpreted by Santeri Kinnunen.

In the story, Fanny, played by Alexander and Elena Leeve , is a cruel stepfather who is cruel in her authoritarianism and finally dies in an accidental fire in accordance with the children’s fervent wishes. The scene itself was executed in a dazzling way, but I also think it was related to one of the profound insights into Westerberg’s and Henna Piirto’s dramaturgy.

Bergman must have been aware when writing Fanny and Alexander that his father was also a victim and, based on biographical information, Bergman himself could have become a victim of this patriarchal authoritarian tradition.

The play was told about Westerberg’s own reflections. In the play, it was also reflected in an emphatically strong critique of fundamentalist religiosity. Alexander met his stepfather’s “shit and pee” in a stunning scene created by means of puppet theater. The scene made it clear that while our bodies remember to the grave the abuses committed in the name of “love”, our minds leave permanent traces of the fears planted there as children.

Fannyn Alexander’s characters are really delicious and the actors have taken advantage of them.

Uusivirta was convincing in the play’s second title role as Alexander. Uusivirta has recently played a number of significant roles. The brilliant musician and vocal soloist has also become a star in the world of theatre, and for good reason. Uusivirta is a very physical actor who has the ability of a dancer to express things non-verbally and fill space through movement.

If and when the productions of the acting students of the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki have been running, now they are also running on the main stages of the country, and that is how it should be. Westerberg is obviously also a skilled choreographer. The play included many non-verbal or almost wordless scenes created by means of dance art and as such very expressive.

Aho’s Vergerus was a stylistically pure interpretation of an authoritarian person. The character was genuinely scary. A great interpretation of the true nature of evil. Aho’s internalized role work made visible what has set the forces of evil in motion again. Europe is once again waging a brutal war of aggression in the name of religion and masculine honour.

Antti Mattila’s set design and William Iles’ lighting design together formed a truly impressive and functional whole. The stage images were magnificent.

The musical choices of Sanna Salmenkallio, who conducted the orchestra, and the sound design of Jaakko Virmavirta created a fine soundscape around the stage images. One of Salmenkallio’s real discoveries was a traditional Jewish synagogue melody from Ukraine.

The truly successful production reinforced my impression that the Ekdahl family from Bergman also lives, lives and works at the Helsinki City Theatre. In this family, we talk, kiss and, of course, argue. Theatre is art made by a community of artists, and therefore the good spirit within the community is transmitted all the way to the auditorium.

The common concern is probably also the nightmares of the night ahead. After the distressing corona months and years, the stands are full again and the family has reason to celebrate. However, a new crisis is just around the corner. The sudden slowdown facing the Finnish economy does not bode well for theatres or the cultural sector in general.