Review: Siegfried
I predict a lot of interesting roles and great success in the field of art for Mikko Kauppila, who will graduate this spring. Of course, I could have predicted them already a few years ago, when I saw him in the adventures of TTT’s Master Elf in the role of Prince Night Eye or in many interesting parts in Eemeli in Vaahteramäki. But now this thesis presentation Siegfried – now we are on a completely different level. Here is a multi-talented Master of Arts in Theatre and Drama, who is at the same time sensitive and bold, taking a stand and introspective. An absolutely dizzying evening!
Kauppila and the director of the work, Katariina Havukainen, combine a wide range of elements. Siegfried mixes personal childhood memories of sexual awakening, fan letters from King Ludwig II of Bavaria to Richard Wagner, themes from Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, water elements, swans – and all this seen through a queer lens. Kauppila’s expression moves smoothly from the piano to ballet and tap, sometimes crawling on the floor, sometimes diving into the depths of water, and even singing. And we will also hear his own compositions. If one of the purposes of an actor’s artistic thesis is to present the student’s skills in a versatile way, then Siegfried certainly does this.
Julia Jäntti has designed an intimate space for HKT’s Studio Pasila stage together with the director. The audience sits on the other side of the stage and the rest is filled with a piano, a pool of water and light curtains. Kauppila shuttles between these elements, sometimes hiding in translucent curtain fabrics, stretching them around her body like a second skin. The airflow sways the fabrics. Small details, such as flowers in glass jars on top of the piano. Jäntti is also responsible for lighting design, which supports diverse dramaturgical solutions and directs the audience’s gaze. Sometimes we are in the twilight of the bluish water world. The soundscape of the performance is also really beautiful. Strange underwater sounds, ethereal echoes of the music of Wagner and Tchaikovsky. The sounds produced by Kauppila himself flow in. Like a male mermaid, she sings and rises from the pool. The sounds are sometimes animalistic, sometimes childish, maybe they even have a bit of a swan in them.
Swan Lake is an extremely important ballet for me, and I picked up many references to it from this performance. “What’s the point? This is the point where the prince falls in love with the swan.” Louis II was a role model for Prince Siegfrid of Swan Lake. The ballet depicts unrequited love with a swan and an unwillingness to marry a woman. “It doesn’t matter to me what you are, to me you are my bird.” I don’t know if Kauppila or anyone in the working group has seen British choreographer Matthew Bourne’s legendary ballet version, in which both the prince and the swan are male. For me, it is the most touching and beautiful interpretation today.
The naked-up game of two little boys is innocent until it is no longer so. At least not in the opinion of the parents. In the shower at the outdoor swimming pool, a teenage boy looks at us and the other man, challenging and defiant. And later, a classmate makes the mistake of sending their nude photos. The personal touch is strongly present in the performance.
Kauppila’s accessories also change almost on the fly. Beige dance belt worn by ballet dancers. Or a white giant shirt. If it gets wet, it will be replaced. Or they are completely without it. Everything fits and fits like a glove for this performance.
Siegfried presents a wide variety of events and scenes. We are in a foreskin loosening operation at Terveystalo (electric knife!), sometimes at the piano playing Merikanto’s Summer Evening Waltz, and there is also Lord von Rothschildt, who speaks the Tampere dialect (who lent money to Finland during the years of crop failure in the 1860s). The supervising teacher has been Pauliina Hulkko, whose choreophone technique is also used in this performance. In other words, movement or space is put into words, as a choreographer writes a dance. The texts are written by Kauppila and Havukainen. Diverse and versatile. As a whole, this really is a work of performing art, cooperation between different creators at its best.
The moods change quickly, a few times a TV sketch show comes to mind, and we go quite a bit of a chase (Born Slippy in Underworld always reminds me of the Trainspotting movie). But then we somehow return to an ethereal and slow pace.
Siegfried is a performance that will continue to live in my head for a long time to come. I want to dig up more information about Louis II, whose life (and death) is quite interesting. It evoked all kinds of feelings, thoughts, associations, even dreams. I hope to see this again, and get back to the same magical world. It will be possible to see Siegfried four more times at the City Theatre and hopefully elsewhere after that. Kauppila started studying gender studies at the University of Helsinki in autumn 2018, but hopefully we will see her on the theatre stage in the next few years.