Review: Minä valitsin sinut
The performance shows the change in the atmosphere in Finland over the past almost 20 years, as well as the joys and sorrows of the everyday life of a female couple
On Saturday last week, I went to see the performance of I Chose You on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre. There is a funny incident related to this performance, that I was waiting at the tram stop for a spora to take me first to the Japanese restaurant Kampai on the Third Line to eat with my cousin Janica, when I realized to check my ticket reservation from my email with my mobile phone. I noticed then that the performance started already at six, and not at seven as usual! Then we skipped the restaurant and saw each other directly at the theater. Luckily we were able to order a snack for the intermission of the performance, and then we got to eat at the Kampai restaurant when the show ended a little before nine in the evening.
There is another story related to the play, i.e. the performance is based on my friend Laura Lehtola’s novel I Chose You (Otava 2020, you can read my review of the book here). For two years, I participated in the book launch party of the book in question on the terrace of restaurant Kaivohuone. There I also talked for the first time with the director I admire Milja Sarkola (Something Else, Harriet, My Capital), and it is Sarkola who has now directed a performance of Laura’s book for the City Theatre. What a dream match!
The story begins in 2003, when Elisa and Saara, in their twenties, get to know each other as new roommates in Helsinki. Later, they become a couple and, after miscarriages, eventually also parents. The performance ends in the late 2010s, when the environment is unexpectedly ready for the female couple. However, the initial romantic relationship fades away in the everyday life of a family with children, and after 12 years, Saara unexpectedly begins a secret relationship with a straight man.
It’s great to see a story about a female couple on the stage of a big theatre. The work highlights how legal decisions, heteronormative culture and alienating talk about same-sex couples feel to people who are really touched by them and who, of course, feel like ordinary people. Although on a surface level, same-sex couples begin to receive the same treatment as others, discrimination is evident in details such as the fact that, for example, in a daycare centre, the child’s other mother is not treated as a parent in the same way as the mother who gave birth to the child. It can be difficult to keep up with the change if you are used to the fact that the same people who are now celebrating at Pride did not spend time with people belonging to sexual minorities just a moment ago. However, the performance is not preachy, but a flowing and life-like drama.
Quote from my previous blog: “The greatest value of the book is that it describes, through the life of one couple, what kind of change has taken place in Finnish society’s attitude towards rainbow people from the beginning of the 2000s to the end of the 2010s. Even though Finland, and especially Helsinki with its gay bars, was in principle a permissive place to live for minorities almost 20 years ago, life was still much more mentally cramped if you belonged to a sexual or gender minority.
“In addition to its social stance, I liked the performance for Laura’s fun and natural dialogue. Particularly delicious scenes on stage are the women’s party in the early 2000s, where all lesbians look the same in their flannel shirts and short hair, and the atmosphere is drunk, and for example, when Elisa’s father treats Saara like a man. The passion between Saara and Elisa has been described naturally and directly. The revolving stage works well, and a real car brought to the stage, for example, adds to the cinematic atmosphere.
Wenla Reimaluoto perfectly embodies Saara’s bohemian and charmingly Hunsvotti-like artistic essence. Misa Lommi, on the other hand, fits the role of the very decent and ambitious Elisa. They are two very different types of personalities that both complement and challenge each other. Pyry Nikkilä plays the funny and smart researcher Antti. Hanna Raiskinmäki is hilarious and phenomenal in many of her roles, such as Saara and Elisa’s little son. Unto Nuora, Kaisa Torkkel and Vappu Nalbantoglu will play other changing roles, such as Elisa’s parents, a family of friends and Pride partygoers.
If you are looking for a fun, touching and thought-provoking performance, I recommend going to see I Chose You. I appreciate that the working group of the performance includes people belonging to sexual minorities who know the topic they are telling and know how to make the performance feel real.