Review: Punaorvot
They were children, not red or white. Helsinki City Theatre’s Red Orphans Touches Touches Red Orphans at the Helsinki City Theatre, written by Anneli Kanto and Lauri Maijala and directed by Maijala, tells a forgotten and harrowing story about the fate of red orphans in Finland after the 1918 Civil War. Maijala’s interpretation is simplistic and polished, and it only adds to the touching nature of the work. The stories of both the orphaned children and their parents who worked on the side of the Reds are harrowing, sometimes even shocking. The Blood Roses by the same creator duo was seen at the KOM Theatre in 2018.
It’s great that this performance has been brought to the stage. It tells the story of the silenced and forgotten in Finnish history. It tells the story of the fate of innocent children who have eventually been forgotten due to shame. Or is it? Are they, too, still somewhere deep in the nation’s memory?
The same procedure of separating children from their poor parents, separating sisters and placing children in “better” families was repeated in the management of the first refugee crisis in independent Finland, as presented in the play. The Karelian families of Viena and Olonets who came from Soviet Russia in 1918-1922 experienced exactly the same family break-up as the Red Orphans. This story is not known either, it has not yet been told.
At the centre of the Red Orphans is a working-class family living on the Second Line with all their dreams. The father of the family (Miika Laakso) dies in the brutal aftermath of the Civil War, and the mother (Ella Mettänen) is left with a son (Antti Autio), two daughters (Wenla Reimaluoto and Anna Böhm) and a small baby. The family is helped by the neighbor’s Elli (Riitta Havukainen) Life is so poor that hunger and deprivation are reaping their harvest. In exchange for poor relief, the mother must give up her two youngest children. The girls are taken to foster homes in Ostrobothnia.
The interpretation is touching and, above all, tells about forgotten events in Finnish history, but also reaches other levels. The family’s son Aarre (Antti Autio) is 14 years old, which means that he is already of working age, so he can stay in Helsinki with his mother. Aarre meets a couple (Kari Mattila and Leena Rapola) heading to the National Theatre to see Kullervo in Kaisaniemi Park. During the tough meeting, Aarre says that some people sit in the theatre and others can’t afford to feed their babies. That’s the way it is. Even today.
Maijala’s interpretation has many skilful directing elements, while the whole is still controlled and concise. Janne Vasama’s set design is simply beautiful and rich in colours, with red and black dominating. The stage image of the final scene, in which authentic images of orphaned children from the Civil War are attached to the back wall of the stage as the ensemble performs the lullaby of the Shoemaker’s Lady, is certainly memorable.
Kari Leppänen’s lighting design also creates darkness on the stage nicely and even manages to frighten, so effective is the light cannon effect at the end of a short Civil War scene.
Ella Mettänen manages to capture the character of a mother as a determined mother fighting for custody of her children as well as feelings of deep despair. Mettänen’s expression is unforced and he captures the emotions required by the scenes so that they are conveyed to the audience in a clear and skilful manner.
Wenla Reimaluoto interprets the role of the family’s eldest daughter, Lahja, in a strong physical way. Especially in the second half, when placed in forced labor in an Ostrobothnian family, Reimaluoto finds skilful nuances of physical expression when expressing his character’s despair and anxiety. The youngest girl in the family, Ilona (Anna Böhm), is lucky in the sense that she happens to be part of a loving family. The treatment of the red orphans varied greatly.
Antti Autio’s son Aarre is a contradictory character. On the one hand, she helps her mother and family, but she also finds herself in difficulties. In his interpretation, Autio highlights the distress of young people and their reactions to the state of ferment and glaring injustices of the society around them. Autio’s interpretation is a delicate and very realistic depiction of the pain of pre-adolescents in the aftermath of the Civil War. Autio’s singing voice is even meditatively fine to hear.
Anyone interested in Finnish history should visit this play, which is also strongly attached to the local history of Helsinki and Kallio. It is also a strong reminder of how theatre is connected to society and the discussion about it. Red Orphans is also a reminder of the power of fiction. About how those whose stories have not been told in official historiography can finally get a voice in the theatre.