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Huom! Poistunut ohjelmistosta!
Translation: Joel Elstelä
Control: Milko Lehto
Set and costumes: Elina Kolehmainen
Lighting design: Juhani Leppänen
Sound Design: Antero Mansikka
Cast:
Kyllikki Forssell and Santeri Kinnunen
The Sun and Me Anyone who has wanted to get to know the life of Sarah Bernhardt , perhaps the brightest star of the theatre world of the last century, has a great opportunity to do so at the Helsinki City Theatre. On the small stage, our own theatre diva Kyllikki Forssell shines in the lead role as Madame Bernhardt together with Santeri Kinnunen , who in turn plays the loyal but slightly squeamish secretary of an aging diva. The events of the play take place in 1922 on the island of Belle-le-en-Mer off the coast of Brittany, where Bernhardt spends his last summer preparing to write the second part of his memoirs. It’s a hot scorching August, “the sun is angry”. Forssell occasionally plunges into tricky situations with great power and intensity. Everything shows that the role has been a pleasant challenge. The actor duo keeps the audience in a good grip during the two-hour play, and the interest remains until the end. The concept of Sarah Bernhardt opens up to viewers on many interesting levels.
Lue lisääImpression of the twilight of life Our theatre’s beloved, dignified star Kyllikki Forssell gets to conquer the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre and the hearts of vulnerable viewers in the role of the great Sarah Bernhardt. And Forssell delivers on his promises. She charms not so much with grandiosity and diva gestures, but with her impressive presence and acting work refined by life experience, which does not require underlining to convey emotions and meanings. John Murrell’s play The Sun and I , which premiered in 1977, tells the story of French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), the biggest star of her time, at the time of her resignation. The play depicts an evening and night at Bernhardt’s summer residence on the coast of Brittany, on the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, in the last year of his life. Flirting with death On a sleepless night, Sarah frantically works on the second part of her memoir together with her loyal secretary, Georges Pitu. The play mixes fact and fiction. The characters are historical, but the situation is imaginary. The Sun and Me does not so much account of the legendary actor’s life as it deals with immortality and renunciation on a universal human level. Anecdotes from Bernhardt’s life emerge as the diva recalls the turning points in her life, great victories and deceased lovers. The performance, delicately directed by Milko Lehto, is theatre wrapped in dignity and trusting in the charisma of the actors. Forssell is fully up to the task and masters the many levels that are created in the play through his own career. He fearlessly brings out the weakness of a woman living with her amputated leg as well as the eroticism of a piece of it with a dim flame.Forssell flirts with death and his audience in his role. The sun and the diva, it is equally difficult for both to give up their immortality. Bernhardt and Forssell have given their all to the audience. Mutual play To refresh her memory and amuse herself, Sarah forces her secretary to play characters from her life. Pitou, played by Santeri Kinnunen , reluctantly, but with enthusiasm and enjoyment, is inclined to play Sarah’s mother, producer and Oscar Wilde. Kinnunen skillfully physicalizes Pitou’s peculiar character. The comic tone of the role of Pitou brings life to the performance, but at the same time makes the relationship between the hostess and the faithful servant safer. The wounds hidden under the thick skin of the grip are hidden under a precisely constructed role. In other respects, too, the play’s most tragic colours have been softened and the corners polished. Despite its serenity, the play, which is based on a dialogue between two people and a relationship marked by habit and coloured by different roles, is not static. The mutual play between Forssell’s life-savvy diva who hangs on the fringes of life and Kinnunen’s flexibly played Pitou keeps the intensity of the performance up. The stage image, set and costumed by Elina Kolehmainen in a romantically nostalgic way, does not change, and the situation does not develop or change. The Sun and Me is not so much a drama as it is a depiction of the moment, a vivid and beautiful impression of the twilight of life.
Lue lisääThe sun is still rising today What does a person do and feel when death is approaching and the memories of past years fade beyond the reach of the mind? Sarah Bernhardt, created by Kyllikki Forssell, in the play The Sun and I, is a harrowingly strong and sensitive person, a capricious and bossy woman terrified by death and slicing with whip sharpness. He hasn’t cared about conventionality before, why not even now in his old age?The lovers and the roles are already fluttering memories, newspaper clippings or secretary Pito’s (Santeri Kinnunen) loose notes in an archive folder that is falling apart. My back and hip hurt. The step has become stiff. The roots of the dyed hair are frayed grey. The language of Forssell’s body does not falter for a moment. Every knee in the stands recognizes: just like that. That’s what it’s like to be in the prison of the body. Written by John Murrell and directed by Milko Lehto, this concise play deals with essential questions: does she live like Sarah, without sparing herself and passionately, or like Pitou, in the shadow of another, with conventional caution and decency? How to deal with grief about the few days?Kinnunen does a great job for Pito. The secretary has arrogance, disapproval, boredom, patience and, finally, a detachment who throws himself into the suction of a nocturnal play. And what about those gestures, hand waves, slumped shoulders and head shakes. Her madame is utterly impossible, but still, how she has lived! Forssell’s Sarah is drawn with amazing skill and with such intensity that a lump rises in your throat. There is really very little sublime and comforting about death and human frailty. Death is the enemy. In their roles, Forssell and Kinnunen are like a couple tired of each other, whose day is filled with mutual quarrels and whims. Beneath the surface, there is genuine caring and concern under the surface, and Sarah has no one else to fight the fear of the approaching unknown. When Sarah is left alone, she knows exactly what is going on, and Pitou still needs a little buzz. “I want this to make some sense. I’ll surprise everyone,” hopes a sleepless Sarah as she flips through the documentaries of her life. There are the waste and treasures of life that memory can no longer grasp. Only occasionally does the mind reckon with roles and scenes from one’s own life. At the same time, Sarah knows that there is no more time. He will soon die, even though the sun is still rising. “Aren’t you at least a little afraid,” the actor asks the audience. Yes, because death always comes in the middle of life.
Lue lisääTHE LAST RAYS OF THE SUNWhat confidence, relaxation and joy of doing! Already at the re-premiere of the play Kvartetti, Kyllikki Forssell was radiant: she had been away from the stage for ten months, longer than ever in her career, and she was beaming with the happiness of returning home. He had a new softness and warmth – and yet all the former sharpness and precision were still there. John Murrell’s play The Sun and Me seemed like an unlucky child, the premiere was postponed a couple of times. It took Forssell three months to recover from the hip fracture.When the premiere finally arrived, the performance was exceptionally ready. Forssell is the great diva of French theatre Sarah Bernhardt from a hundred years ago. Bernhardt spends his last summer in Brittany in 1922 with his secretary Georges Pito – Sarah’s biography should be completed. Santeri Kinnunen is Pitou, who watches, supervises, and acts out people from Bernhardt’s long life.Forssell’s age stretches on stage at 50 years. She glows as a passionate woman who worships men, whose body screams love games once more. And as soon as pain and fatigue strike, his face is as bare as a death mask.The lighting, which is the responsibility of Juhani Leppänen, is stunning: Forssell’s beloved ramp lights are used, which show the thoughts of the eyes.At first, it feels like Kinnunen is parodying a man who looks like a silly goat. It takes a moment to realize that this is exactly how to stumble on a diva, otherwise Sarah would feel pathetic. Now Sarah is real, the lines condensed from life experience touch with their truth.Kyllikki Forssell puts her own experience, her love of theatre, herself on the line.
Lue lisääNOTES OF THE GREAT DIVALet’s write the memoirs of an actress. The place is a seaside villa resting in the scorching sun. The small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre is filled with soft, already faded and rounded sets. Everything is about the past, a little dusty but abundant time.Actress Sarah Bernhardt’s life is already coming to an end, but the great diva does not let go of it. He looks at the sun and says in horror that he heard it burn itself out. So nothing is immortal – not even Sarah.French-born Bernhardt was the most recognized actress of the 19th century, followed by the media of the time wherever she went. The actress’s life was colourful and she knew how to take advantage of the added value that came with publicity In the play, written by John Murrell, Sarah and her secretary-servant Pitou go through a day and night trying to pile up crumbs for the second part of Sarah’s biography. The two-actor performance directed by Milko Lehto is intense. Its expressive atmosphere is playful, even if the content and events are not.
Lue lisääTHE SUN AND ME IS A THEATRE DELICACYAt the premiere on 17 April, the audience of the Sun and Me performance stood up at the end of the performance and shouted bravo, theatre director Sarkola hurried to hand Kyllikki Forssell a magnificent bouquet of flowers with an elegant hand kiss. This is how the Diva is worshipped.The worship was right. The Sun and Me is a delightful theatre treat. Kyllikki Forssell, if anyone can play the aging Sarah Bernhardt, a diva in another power!
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