Review: Figaros bröllop

In Jakob Höglund’s direction of The Marriage of Figaro, the stage opens in front of a glittery curtain with large red-clad blocks or mattresses made of foam rubber on the floor. We stay here throughout the performance. Höglund and set designer Sven Haraldsson use the blocks in a thousand imaginative ways. They form different rooms and nooks and crannies inside and outside the castle near Seville. What follows is a brutalist ballet of scenography. It’s the 18th century, but the comedy of entanglement immediately blinks the eye, offering a mix of comedy, slapstick, burlesque and the aesthetics of the cartoon. 

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The Marriage of Figaro is a play that requires incredible timing and charm from the actors. They have to reason, rush, fight and fall with their wigs at an angle. They must always be a little ahead so that the spectators wonder if the person who speaks is lying or telling the truth. In this case, they are probably lying as everything is just a huge complication plot. Everyone in the ensemble is brilliant with Wendelin, Wigelius and Heikkinen as guiding stars and afterwards you have the feeling of having seen many more actors on stage than there are even in this stripped-down version. During the second half, most things seem to have fallen into place and the actors find a relaxed presence with time for ambiguous looks and rolling eyes. 

The sound effects that the ensemble also manages (either with their bodies or at an instrument table on the side) form the crowning glory of the work. 

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