Review: Jenny Hill

What would Little Red Riding Hood do?

I always wonder what would be done with the fairytale princesses in the Jenny Hill book if the book were ever turned into a TV series or a play. Minna Rytisalo’s great novel (WSOY 2023) told the story of Jenni Mäki’s midlife crisis, which six fairy tale characters observe from the sidelines, worried and sometimes cheering. With their voices, the work made visible the pressures of womanhood, both self-taken and externally loaded.

In the theatre auditorium, I shouted in my mind: this is exactly how it had to be done! On stage, Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Kerttu are at least as important characters as Jenny herself. France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, also has her say, to whom Jenny begins to write letters at the suggestion of her therapist. Encounters create a delightful and shaking joy. There are many women in the world.