Review: Humiseva harju
Love is like a whirlwind
I had been waiting for the premiere of The Humming Ridge at the Helsinki City Theatre ever since I heard about Lauri Maijala’s upcoming direction. I fell in love with Emily Brontë’s book when I was young and read its harrowing and dark story of love and revenge several times. I’ve also liked many of Maijala’s directions and the casting was promising. It was exciting to see and experience how this meandering great story and even greater emotions could be adapted to the theatre stage. My expectations were really high!
The performance started like a storm and gave a reading guide about wild energy. In the auditorium, I preferred to leave my analytical self aside and let the performance take me and my emotions in the direction I wanted. I got quite a ride. On stage, we see the love story of young Cathy and Heathcliff until the death of the aforementioned and the vengeful ending of the book has been left out. Oona Airola Cathyna and Markus Järvenpää as Heathcliff do incredibly physical, precise and touching roles, and Markku Haussila’s Hindley reveals a sensitive and hurt person much deeper than the character in the original work.
Love is like a whirlwind
The viewer is torn apart as if in the treacherous winds of the moors. When you dare to surrender to a work, even surprising changes in styles feel natural. Love is juxtaposed with unpredictable and sudden forces of nature. Love is like a whirlwind. It takes you away, is unpredictable, frantic and breaks everything in its path. The people living in the rough environment of the humming ridge love roughly, but at the same time, the so-called civilization represented by the people of Rastaantie Manor in the play appears as a false play and the coldness of emotion. The wind cannot be captured and the hurricane cannot be tamed.
Orphan boy Heathcliff creates a whirlwind around him. A child who has been left without love in childhood clings to the first and only person who has shown him affection. Love overtakes the boy and turns into an obsession. Heathcliff, who is seen in the second act, straightens his posture and has grown up, stands steadily in the eye of the whirlwind, giving it momentum. At the same time, however, the viewer is conveyed a destructive storm inside Heathcliff, hidden from others. In the same way, the longing for the roar of the storm lives inside the repressed Cathy.
A storm in my heart
After the performance, my eyes were hot, my heart was pounding in my chest and my hands were shaking for a long time. The next day I cried like I had never cried before. I loved, loved, loved this show. I have heard both agreeing and opposing opinions about it. I dare say that the dichotomy in the reception is a sign of good and effective art. A mediocre performance would not be able to cause love or hatred in the viewer. The purpose of art is to make a difference. Sometimes the effect feels good, but it can also be tearing. If there is no emotional reaction, the work is, in my view, a failure.
It took me several days to recover from the performance, and even in retrospect, thinking about it evokes a strong emotional reaction. This doesn’t happen often, even though I see dozens of shows every year. I’m happy to be impressed, but I can’t suggest that I’m impressed. It’s common for a point in the performance to move me, but it’s very rare that the whole work feels like a storm inside me. I would argue that The Humming Ridge is a theatrical event that should not be missed. I haven’t seen anything this impressive in a long time.