Review: Egenmäktigt förfarande

The performance Arbitrary Procedure is intelligent entertainment and a non-moralizing love treatise.

Based on Lena Andersson’s novel, the performance breaks away from the farces of Lilla Teatern’s previous years.

ESTER NILSSON is an intelligent poet and essayist who falls in love with the artist Hugo Rask.

They spend a few passionate nights, but Ester’s unconditional love for a symbiotic relationship is not resonated by the cool but friendly Hugo.

When they speak, they are mainly talking about the art of Hugo Rask or Hugo Rask. Ester’s friends witness how analytical skills and the ability to analyze relationships do not protect Ester in any way.

Ann-Luise Bertelli’s love study Egenmäktigt menetlus, directed at Lilla Teatern, cuts pieces of Lena Andersson’s novel for the stage that emphasize the book’s humour and sharpen the caricature features of the characters.HUGO RASK has narcissistic traits. He likes to talk about big things, but he doesn’t want to put himself on the line in relationships.In this fast-paced performance, the journey of Ester (Linda Zilliacus), who is left without reciprocated love, is easy to watch, but difficult to accept.

And by difficult, I mean that Esther raises questions about love, commitment and gender roles that should already be fully processed in the free world.

But when that’s not the case. Is the hero the one who puts all his emotions on the line? Can anyone in today’s world endure the kind of unconditional love that Esther thirsts for?

What are the factors in the dominance of a love relationship due to gender, or are they caused by anything?

LILLA TEATERNILLE The performance, based on Andersson’s August Prize-winning novel, is a choice that makes a clear break with the farces of the theatre’s previous years. It offers sharp moral reflection, not moralizing.

However, something of the novel’s depiction of absoluteness, which is perhaps most powerfully conveyed through the narrator of the novel, disappears on stage.

Egenmäktigt menetlus is still worth a visit. First of all, acting brings new dimensions to Ester and Hugo’s personalities.

Lilla Teatern does not aim for cinematic illustration of the book, but the bodily expression of the performers evokes special empathy for the characters.

Linda Zilliacus embodies Ester with sensitivity, while Johan Fagerrud sculpts a caricature that is not at all as simple as it seems.Anja Bargum and Emilia Nyman are responsible for the cheerful choir of friends. They are very good at detachment, but the analysis of friendship between women remains limited.ANTTI MATTILA’S light-coloured set design and costumes, as well as Antero Mansikka’s lights, skilfully create a picture of the times and a sense of the inner circle of the cultural sector.Arbitrary action is intelligent entertainment. The edges of the characters played by Linda Zilliacus and Johann Fagerrud continue to hurt long after the performance has ended.