Review: Paahtimo
Roastery – Studio Pasila’s hilarious comedy brings joy to autumn
Roastery, set in the world of coffee, is a boost to three espressos. In addition to laughter, the comedy also offers criticism of working life.
This is what this second corona autumn has been missing: hilarious comedy! Helsinki City Theatre’s Studio Pasila’s Paahtimo (directed by Sini Pesonen) still makes us laugh during the final applause, thanks to Jesse’s (Jarkko Niemi) snappy final canoe.
Written by Mikko Reitala , Paahtimo takes place in the Kofi small roastery, where Samuli (Jaris Osman), who roasts coffee with passion, tries to come up with a recipe for success. At the same time, the other employees of the company are pulling in different directions: the wandering CEO Pepe (Pertti Koivula), the financial manager Christina (Leena Rapola), who fears for her position, and the self-serving “nice guy” and sales manager Jesse (Jarkko Niemi).
A job opens up in Kofi that feels like a dream come true for Anni (Vappu Nalbantoglu). He is a coffee expert who would have enough qualifications, but not courage. Her sister Olivia (Sanna-June Hyde) is a petite woman who switches from one temporary job to another, who has no real substance, but who can cope in any social situation. When Anni’s job interview at Kofi ends in a misunderstanding, the sisters decide to join forces. Olivia goes to work as Ann, briefed by Anni.
As you might expect, everyone’s house of cards begins to falter as the story progresses.
The Roastery is an entertaining comedy overall, but its best part is the unbridled frogs and laconic one-liners of Jesse, who brands himself as a feminist with little success. Jarkko Niemi once again shows his comedic strength in the role.
Olivia’s co-workers are fascinated by her made-up adventures and don’t realize that she doesn’t know anything about coffee.
In addition to making people laugh, the play can be seen as a critique of modern working life, where a good story can beat substantive expertise. Olivia’s co-workers are fascinated by her invented adventures and don’t realize that she doesn’t know anything about coffee or even likes it.
The performance also works visually, all the way to the costumes (costume design by Tinja Salmi). The message wall (set design by Katariina Kirjavainen, projections by Jaakko Sirainen) is a good and otherwise functional idea, but some of the texts were visible on the other side of the auditorium due to the poor lighting on the wall.