Review: Kiviä taskussa

Men get older, stones stay in their pockets

It has been 20 years since Martti Suosalo and Mika Nuojua performed the play Stones in Your Pocket for the first time at the Helsinki City Theatre. Last week, a well-deserved festive show was seen at the same place.

Don’t anyone wonder how someone can do the same thing for 20 years. Rock bands are also known for their hits, and their performance is not questioned.

The most enthusiastic Stones in Your Pocket fans book tickets as soon as they go on sale and watch the show once a year. The “stones” have travelled extensively around the country, and at the end of the year, in addition to Helsinki, it will be seen in Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Rovaniemi, among other places.

In the story, a film crew from the United States arrives for filming in rural Ireland, where local residents have been hired as assistants. At the center are Charlie and Jake, who are drifting in life, but there are so many roles that it takes a while to recognize.

After that, you can hold on to the bench, enjoy and laugh. The speed is like in Rovanperä’s rally car, and the transitions to different people come even every few seconds.

Irish English has been replaced by the dialect of Northern Ostrobothnia, which Suosalo and Nuojua have mastered perfectly as they have lived in the area. That’s how it goes, except that the assistant director Simon speaks in the Turku way and the security guard, the Scotsman Jock, speaks in the South Ostrobothnian way. Suosalo also handles these convincingly, as well as the mannerisms and manner of speaking of the American film star Caroline.

Clearly, there are small fine-tunings to the performance every year. It seems as if the men sometimes try to surprise each other by throwing in something extraordinary.

The performance also takes on a bit of serious tones, from which the title of the play is derived. That tends to be forgotten, as well as the fact that behind the two brilliant actors there is a skilled team, such as director Pentti Kotkaniemi.

During the applause, Suosalo lifted his leg and revealed the support bandage in his knee. The years pass, the pain increases, but the men fight. The performance is very demanding physically. The anniversary performance was already the 862nd and the milestone of 1000 performances is not far away.

The performances will continue in the spring. It would be a surprise if they ended there.