Review: Hildur

Hildur – The Arena stage is impressively transformed into Icelandic in a play faithful to the best-selling book

Satu Rämö, who is also known as a columnist for Apu, has been on the rise in recent years with her super-popular Hildur book series published by WSOY. The pace is only accelerating, as Hildur is now simultaneously running on the Arena stage of the Helsinki City Theatre and as a TV series on Ruutu+. While the TV series has taken liberties with the characters, for example, the play dramatised by Satu Rasila and directed by Tuomas Parkkinen is more faithful to the book.

So far, five volumes have been published in the book series, each of which opens up the lives, perspectives and backgrounds of certain key people in more depth. The play is based on the first book in the series, Hildur, published in 2022.

Icelandic detective Hildur Rúnarsdóttir (Elena Leeve) has a bad trauma in the background. Her two sisters disappeared when they were children and her parents have died. The traces have long since gone cold, but the uncertainty about the fate of the sisters will not let go.

Hildur is partnered with Jakob (Paavo Kinnunen), a Finn who has longed for a change of scenery and is facing a tragedy of his own, a fierce custody dispute. The ex-partner of the diligent knitting Jakob (Vappu Nalbantoglu in the video) is some kind of manifestation of evil, the motives of which are not really revealed.

The two begin to investigate a suspicious death in the West Fjords, but soon there are several cases. Is there a serial killer on the move, and could the actions be connected to the disappearance of Hildur’s sisters years ago?

Hildur is a physical character in the books, and Elena Leeve plays the role intensely, with her whole body. In the role, Leeve is the driver who drives the entire play, and his energy is transmitted all the way to the audience. Paavo Kinnunen’s Jakob is bubbling under the surface, although on the surface he is half a confident professional and half a withdrawn shyer.

The supporting roles convey the Icelandic briskness and naturalness familiar from Rämö’s books, such as the sturdy police chief Beta (Sari Haapamäki) and Gudrun (Sanna June Hyde).

Iceland and the barrenness and beauty of island nature also play an important role in Rämö’s books. It moves confusingly well to the small stage of the Arena stage, staged by Antti Mattila. The numerous different locations required by the story have been realised naturally, and nature and natural phenomena from the swirling sea to avalanches are impressive.

Toni Haaranen’s video design supports the set design nicely. Lights and shadows (lighting design by Petteri Heiskanen) also play an important role in the play.”

Read the review with pictures here.