Review: Tahto
Tahto, about Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, is a perfect heroic story.
The hero is the tenacious Aikku
“I’m Aino-Kaisa Saarinen.” With this sentence, skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, the real
and the right one, says that he pushed himself when he had already run out of strength, but he had to keep going to the finish line. A simple sentence in the video that opens the presentation is miraculously
arresting. Beforehand, I joke that I’m going out of my comfort zone; to watch a play about skiing. And yes, Tahto is about skiing, but it’s about much more than that.
Saarinen’s life also captivates a person like me without any background in sports or even bench sports. It is only after the performance that I realise what has made the viewing experience particularly special. How fresh and liberating it is to follow the story of a woman who persistently strives forward! As a recap for other unsportsmen: Aino-Kaisa Saarinen is a multiple world champion and Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing. Saarinen’s twin sister Maija (called Sisko in the play) is also a successful skier. Saarinen’s story, with its ups and downs, is perfect for the stage. It makes you laugh, move and wonder.
The winner must focus on their own navel
The world of elite sports is absurd. 20th place in the Olympics is a terrible failure, even though it is still a top performance. But in sports, they don’t share
consolation prizes. Already in the baby photo, Saarinen and her twin sister
lying next to each other with small wooden skis in their hands. Did Aino-Kaisa choose skiing or did skiing choose her? In the Saarinen family, they pick berries in a race, ski and run around the house all the time. And it’s not customary to praise children. Everything has a very Finnish and recognizable connotation.
Tahto asks in an interesting, touching and entertaining way: what does it take to be the best? How to use the “slamming style” to finish first, even with the sisters of the competition
have better lever arms naturally? It requires sacrifices, tantrums and selfishness, but
Also joy and a flow state where the pain is no longer felt. And will. Aino-Kaisa, Aikku, is horrible to those close to her. Not any more selfish than, for example, numerous
male heroes in Finnish biographical films.
Sporty implementation
Sanna-June Hyde has said that she prepared for her role as Aiku by skiing a lot, among other things. It also shows. Energetic role-playing is certainly a sporting performance.
Hyden Aikku is tenacious and stubborn and sometimes unbearable. Still, he gets the audience on his side from the very first moments. Aikku is also sensitive and vulnerable, especially in his relationship with his worst and dearest rival, Virpi Kuitunen (Linda Zilliacus). A common coach (Rauno Ahonen) adds tension to the relationship between the women. Aino-Kaisa’s father is played by Risto Kaskilahti, her mother by Leena Rapola and her twin sister by Vappu Nalbantoglu. Everyday life is secured by her husband Tom (Mikko Virtanen/Tatu Mönttinen). The play’s key twists and turns are based on Saarinen’s life, but at times we are drawn into the world of dreams and imagination to meet tennis star Andre Agassi (Santeri Kinnunen).
Jyrki Karttunen’s choreography brings more inventive movement to the otherwise sporty performance. Tinja Salmi has created a beautiful blue-and-white setting for Aiku’s story (set design, costume design and video design). Aino-Kaisa Saarinen herself was unable to attend the premiere, but at the end of the thanksgiving, Sanna-Jude Hyde read a text message sent by the audience to the audience. Saarinen was sorry, but said as if to crystallize everything we saw: you can’t have everything in life. But at least Saarinen’s story got the stage it deserved.
implementation.