Review: Hinta
In the theater: Price
How can a play that premiered half a century ago still be a topical and touching performance? These are the thoughts that came to my mind when I walked towards the railway station after Friday’s almost three-hour play. I went to see The Price, performed by the Helsinki City Theatre, which is based on Arthur Miller’s The Price (1968). Miller has certainly been a genius. The play is great.
Victor (Santeri Kinnunen) must finally take the bull by the horns and sell his late father’s estate, because the matter cannot simply be postponed any longer. Victor’s wife Esther (Aino Seppo) agonizes over her husband’s inertia and the fact that Victor couldn’t even contact his brother Walter (Eero Aho). Victor has tried, but you can’t just get a successful doctor brother on the phone. Besides, Victor lived with his father and took care of his well-being, so it’s really his job to take care of the estate as well. And now, however, the antique dealer Solomon (Esko Salminen) is coming. Things are brought to an end and life can go on perhaps a little more financially secure.
Geez, what a cast of actors there is on stage! Phew! A little person is already dumbfounded when they see these masters. All I can say is great! Santeri Kinnunen in Victor’s police uniform is an impatient and embittered man. After all, his life has been ruined because of the dizzying Walter. As Esther, Aino Seppo hates her husband’s pathetically low-paid police career, even though she is ready to support her husband. On the other hand, every now and then it’s worth having a drink or two to endure all this. Esko Salminen, on the other hand, is full of character in Solomon’s clothes. Salminen interprets the 89-year-old Solomon with his gestures and facial expressions in an unbelievably fine way. Salminen envelops the audience in a mystical emotional state. The other actors, on the other hand, are very easily irritated by their roles. You can’t start eating eggs in the middle of a sale. Esko Salminen is really skilled. When Eero Aho arrives, the atmosphere on stage begins to intensify even more. Aho’s role is like the return of the prodigal brother. The man arrives with great gestures, but gradually the man begins to reveal details about both his own life and Victor’s.
The Price is an intense play that demands a lot from the actors, but also from the spectators. Under no circumstances can you go to see the play when you are tired, because there is constant dialogue in the play. There are also great and long monologues that show how skilled the actors are on stage. How on earth can the actors remember the kind of speeches that are heard in the play? I also liked how the actors created tension in the air. The silence of Victor, Walter and Esther for a few minutes on stage was stunning. If the tension could be cut, this would have been a scene where a slice could have been cut.
Paavo Westerberg has done a brilliant job in the role of director. The pieces of the play are in place. Nothing is missing, and nothing is too much. One thing I really enjoyed in the play was the lights. The lighting design has been done by Kalle Ropponen. The play has simple lighting, but it works. Sometimes the light bulbs dim, the shadows lengthen and sharpen. Sometimes the spotlight is on the actor giving a monologue, leaving others in the shadows of the shadows. Insanely nicely executed lighting that supports the course of the play.
The price is a description of brotherhood and the pressures created by family relationships. The price is an ambiguous name for the play. We don’t just talk about money, but also about values and the meanings of choices. This play does not get old over the years. The play depicts life as it is now, what it has been like and what it will be like. Helsinki City Theatre’s The Price is a play not to be missed if you enjoy a performance that provokes thoughts.