Review: Hildur
“Hildur is a hit on the Arena stage
The Arena stage of the Helsinki City Theatre will now feature something other than a farce. The dramatisation of bestselling author Satu Rämö’s detective novel Hildur is a hit in all respects. The small stage of the Arena transforms nicely into the Icelandic landscape and also into the mental landscape of the characters in the play, which contains light and shadow.
Ticket received/HKT (this does not affect the content of the blog)
A story is needed – Satu Rämö’s debut detective novel Hildur – dramatizer of the story Satu Rasila – dramaturgy designer Ari-Pekka Lahti and director of the play Tuomas Parkkinen. The result of this working group is Helsinki City Theatre’s Hildur.
The story, set in Iceland, on the Western Leaks, focuses on Hildur Rúnarsdóttir, a traumatized detective and head of the Missing Children Unit. In addition to her demanding job, she also mourns the mysterious disappearance of her own little sisters and escapes her dark thoughts by surfing the icy waves of the Atlantic. However, reality hits us in the face, with yet another murder investigation ahead, followed by a couple of others. They all have in common a strange discovery – tufts of blonde hair found in the mouths of the victims.
Hildur is helped by a police trainee from Finland, sweater knitting Jakob Johanson, who is scared to death of flying. Jakob is also not in his comfort zone on a boat ride in the storm winds that swirl across the Atlantic.
Those who have read Hildur know how the story unfolds. It will also proceed in the adaptation of the Arena stage. Antti Mattila’s set design, lighting designer Petteri Heiskanen, sound designer Eradj Nazimov and video designer Toni Haaranen create an unusually coherent total work of art.
The title role is played by Elena Leeve with her calm presence. She is the Hildur that the reader sees in their minds already when reading the book. There is nothing extra in the role of Leeve, he interprets Hildur’s mental landscape nicely, all the good and also distressing things that Hildur has experienced in her life.
Paavo Kinnunen, who plays the other main role, Jakob, is doing a sweater-weaving role that I needed a little more rootedness in. But perhaps Jakob is just as nerdy in the midst of his own son’s custody dispute as Kinnunen does in his interpretation of the role. The custody dispute is referred to in the play only in a few scenes. And that’s what Satu Rämö has written a book about in her detective series called Jakob. (Somehow, one could imagine that the other parts of the series also spawned stage versions.)
In the play’s script, Satu Rämö writes about how evil is often found close by, but the proximity of people is a great resource that we have. Thisalso comes true in the play version.
PS. At the premiere, I asked Satu Rämö if she has been involved in Iceland’s sheep gathering every autumn. That’s where the fifth part of the Hildur series, the Tinna detective story, begins. I should have guessed – of course he was!”
Read the review with pictures here.