Milja Sarkola’s new direction elegantly explores questions of power and ownership

★★★★

Riko Eklundh and Mikko Kauppila play great roles in the performance Röda rummet, which explores the complex issues of power and subjugation.

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Kaj Korkea-aho’s 2021 novel Röda rummet (Red Room), published in Finnish in the same year, has been successfully dramatised for the stage by Tuomas Timonen. Sarkola’s stylish direction concludes the trilogy he directed for the Helsinki City Theatre, the previous parts of which were Bolla (2021) and I Chose You (2022), which are also based on the novels.

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Sarkola and his working group have succeeded in bringing Röda rummet to the stage in such a way that the sound of the intense performance does justice to Korkea-aho’s work. The themes that the novel has plenty to chew on are also there. The desire to submit, power, possession, fantasies, one’s own limits.

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