Review: Bekännelsernas natt 1.12 kl. 19 (K18)

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The Night of Confessions deals with prejudice, generational differences and communication. A question that recurs several times in the dialogue is whether the other party listens.

The screenwriter and one of the actors, Benjamin Laustiola, chooses which themes he brings up, some clues appear but are then left out of the discussion.

A retired couple – she is a former member of parliament – has quarreled. He leaves and she follows him to the airport. We never get to see the missing husband, but the couple’s adult son and his partner. Mother and son haven’t had contact for 15 years, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. Questions related to why you have not kept in touch are never raised. The evening’s topics of conversation are homosexuality, transvestism, racism and mental illness.

Laustiola is sensitive to the different ways of relating different generations, and that approach is the evening’s great benefit. He plays the son and Johan Simberg the partner Ture. Ture lets his mother (Johanna Ringbom) have her opinions, you might call them somewhat angular, but he expects respect. This balancing act is not so easy, but both parties interpret their roles elegantly. Little by little, they find each other. And the son is not completely free of prejudice and transgression, neither is he.

The Night of Confessions is based on dialogue. At times, it feels a bit text-heavy. The set design is very sparse, the characters are in a transit hall and the play is going on tour.

The drama has clear points of contact with Laustiola’s debut play After the Party (2014). The starting point is that the people know quite a bit about each other, even though they belong to the same family. The audience never really gets to know why the contracting parties have chosen to remain silent about large parts of their lives – except that contact has been broken and that much of that is not known to the other party for that reason.

Ringbom’s mother is quite withdrawn. Given that she has a prominent role, she could advantageously take the turns a little more. Simberg makes a tactful partner, even though his outfit is the most challenging. He withdraws from time to time, and it’s natural that he doesn’t want to stand in the way.

It is not easy to portray minority issues and prejudices in such a way that different approaches are heard, and still maintain a respectful and dignified tone. Theatre is supposed to challenge and you have to be able to show conflicts, and use comedy without losing focus. Teater Josefina and Laustiola can do the feat. Rather, they have been too cautious and allowed the spoken dialogue to overshadow action.

Occasionally they stumble a little on the lines during the premiere, but quickly find themselves and find their way back.

The Night of Confessions is a thoughtful and sympathetic piece about sympathetic and flawed people, like us in the audience, who laugh thoughtfully and quietly.