Review: Tahto

A new play about Aino-Kaisa Saarinen sums up the Finnish conifers and devil attitude extremely aptly

Aino-Kaisa Saarinen may have short levers, but she has an even more of a pushy attitude.

What a privilege mediocrity can be at times!

This thought comes to mind after the premiere of the Helsinki City Theatre’s play Tahto. Tahto, which tells the story of the life of World Championship skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, is a story about how funny and painful it is to try to be something special.

The harder you want it, the harder the disappointments sting harder.

The play itself is anything but mediocre. It’s a skill to be light-hearted, funny and heartfelt at the same time, and that’s what Tahto – and especially Sanna-June Hyde, who plays the lead role – succeeds in.

The world is full of stories of great men who are passed on by the whole circle on their way to success. A little look at everyday life tells us that there are of course similar ones among us women. That is why it is refreshing that this time the play’s unbearably selfish devotee is a woman. Aikku is infuriating and extremely relatable at the same time. A bouncing jerk and a sensitive person who struggles with his own inadequacy.

One of the central themes of the play is solidarity between women with all its nuances. Aiku and Virpi Kuitunen’s (wonderfully ethereal Linda Zilliacus) painful cluster of friendship, bloody rivalry and jealousy comes to the fore. The same coach and the same goal, but Aikku is always a bit of a laggard.

The turning points in Aino-Kaisa Saarinen’s life are well known to the general public thanks to her biography Tahto, which was published just over a year ago. The new play, written by Aina Bergroth and directed by Sini Pesonen, does not offer any new surprises to the familiar story, but it doesn’t have to.

The greatest benefit of the play is that the viewer gets to feel their own and others’ expectations, the euphoria of victory and its constant inadequacy. To laugh at things in your life that sometimes feel too painful.

I was left wondering what is the measure of success in life. The traditional thing is that you try and give it your all, conifers damn it! Or is it that you are comfortable with your own mediocrity? Probably a hybrid of these.

The message of the will is that disappointment is an inevitable part of life. And if you’re annoyed, you can always go for a run.

It can be considered a kind of culmination of the dramaturgy that Aikku himself was unable to attend the premiere of Tahto due to work commitments. However, he sent a text message to Sanna-Jude Hyde, who plays the title role:

You can’t have everything in life.