Review: Fly Me To the Moon

“Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars”, sang Frank Sinatra. It only took a few years from the recording of the song before the first person walked on the moon.

In Lilla Teatern’s play Fly Me To The Moon , home care workers Fia and Lilja do not dream of a moon flight, but of a colleague’s bachelor party in Barcelona and Lilja’s daughter’s school trip. In home care, the salary is low, and there is no money for a bachelorette party or a class trip.

Fia and Lilja had time to chat for a while during their home visit. Customer Martin is in the toilet and soon he will be washed.

While waiting, they scrutinized Sipilä and the government’s actions. The activation model is heavily criticised by nurses. There are unemployed people close to them, who will have to cope with even smaller unemployment benefits in the future.

Went to hell or clay

After a while of wondering why Martin’s morning chores take so long, Fia and Lilja decide to break down the locked toilet door. The man is found dead on the floor of the toilet.

Home nurses get nervous and overwhelmed by this, and they don’t really know how to act. Fia comes up with the idea that Martin’s pension, which Lilja has usually drawn for Martin, will be paid today.

Martin doesn’t need it anymore, so the nurses could divide the money among themselves. They could claim to the authorities that Martin was still alive on the morning visit.

Lilja is horrified, but agrees after Fia paints a picture of all the things she could do with the money. That would pay for my daughter’s school trip and get something nice for myself as well.

An ever-deepening cycle of lies begins. After a little lie, it’s easy to accept the second and third.

The play is very sadly funny. Fia is the one who orders the home caregivers, and Lilja whines and obeys. Fia always comes up with a solution, whether it goes wrong or not.

Dialogue is a pleasure to follow and listen to

The actor duo Pia Runnakko as Fia and Linda Zilliacus as Lilja are an exhilarating couple as experienced actors. It is a pleasure to follow and listen to their one-on-one dialogue. It shines with professionalism and years of experience.

The lines contain a lot of topical issues, and they add a nice sense of comedy to the play. In addition to Sipilä, the duo scrutinizes Wahlroos’s antics.

The nurses’ message hits and sinks. This was already shown by the midwives interviewed by Yle, who made Juha Sipilä’s head turn in the Competitiveness Pact. Hopefully, Sipilä will listen to the home nurses at Lilla Teatern with the same attentive ear.

Fly Me To The Moon is definitely a topical play before the parliamentary elections. The only downside is the surprisingly short duration: one hour and five minutes. I would have enjoyed this duo’s dialogue even longer.

The play is subtitled in Finnish.