Review: Faktiska händelser
Everyone has something to tell. A lost love, a funny incident that wasn’t all the more but has remained in the memory or a really deep wound that may never heal. Not entirely, anyway.
I think about that when I sit at the premiere of Actual Events at Lilla teatern. The performance is based on answers that the theatre audience has been able to answer through an online survey. The survey asked, among other things, about one’s outlook on life, whether one regrets it or what event from one’s own life one would like to see performed on a theatre stage. Hbl’s reviewer points out that the performance is very white and portrays quite well-to-do Finland-Swedes – but the theatre has simply had to work with the answers that have come in.
A total of six actors act out short scenes from real life. Before the evening, I think about how they will build it together dramaturgically. How do detached stories make a good whole? My concern turned out to be unfounded, because the performance is something out of the ordinary. On the one hand, there are many comic situations, but in the second act, Actual Events goes into deeper waters. The atmosphere gradually escalates and by the end there are not many dry eyes in the theatre auditorium. The applause hardly wants to end when it’s over.
Factual events show the absurd, funny, horrible and heartbreaking in life. As spectators, we get to take part in the entire register of emotions performed by incredibly good actors. Especially the women (who probably responded to the survey to a greater extent than men?) are portrayed incredibly nicely by Linda Zilliacus, Birthe Wingren and Kira-Emmi Pohtokari.
The performance feels like a therapy session or perhaps rather a reminder of how fragile life can be. And how important it is that we enjoy what we have – but also dare to speak up when we are treated badly. Actual events are about everything from bad Tinder dates, sexual abuse and illegitimate children. The fact that the actors also put both heart and soul into the roles further elevates the stories.
Thank you Lillan for the invitation to the premiere! And now, of course, I’m curious: what event from your life would you like to see performed on a theatre stage?