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Huom! Poistunut ohjelmistosta!
Control Maarit Ruikka,
Translation Sami Parkkinen,
Visualization Kaisa Niva,
Costumes Sari Suominen,
Lights Teppo Saarinen,
Sounds Ari-Pekka Saarikko
Cast
Jouko Klemettilä, Mika Nuojua, Matti Olavi Ranin, Panu Vauhkonen
Gagarin’s Road is a black comedy about political activism The play, which premiered at the Helsinki City Theatre’s Studio Pasila on Thursday, deals with a topical topic – globalisation and its effects on the lives of employees. The topicality of the play Gagarin’s Road, directed by Maarit Ruikka, is indicated by the fact that Gregory Burge’s play has been awarded and performed all over Europe in recent years. Before the premiere in Helsinki, the play was also included in the repertoire at the Tampere Workers’ Theatre. The debut play, written by the young playwright Burge, takes a stand on a globalised society where the economy dictates the pace. On the path of an inverted marching order, people are left behind. Four men , more or less involuntarily, ponder the world in the mining village of Lumphinnans in the Scottish region of Fife. The play is named after Gagarin’s Road, which tells the story of communism that lived strong in the area. Eddie, who works in the warehouse of a factory that manufactures computer parts, is tired of capitalism not taking people into account. Eddie is a cynical worker who has acquired education with the help of a library card. The irritated man begins a verbal rant and mocks the philosophical ramblings of Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean Genet. Karl Marx and his associates are also considered in the light of today. Insane Eddie and the enthusiastic idealist Garyn have decided to put a spanner in the works of global capitalism by kidnapping their boss. The kidnapped Frank represents evil capitalism to the friends – or at least it is supposed to be until it becomes clear that not everything is black and white in a world stripped of idealism. The fatalistic leader who is in the wheels of the economy is the man next door, his own men, not Japanese or American, as Gary from Panu Vauhkonen , who embodies the role of a working-class romantic, hopes aloud. Young Tom, who works as a warehouse guard, becomes fatally involved in the project. Tom, played by Mika Nuojua , is naïve and believes that his academic career will take off. Capitalist Frank does not agree to be the scapegoat of the workers. Frank, played by Matti Olavi Ranin , is not a jerk, but like Gary, he has a family and an ordinary life. Eddie and Gary are frustrated, powerless, and have a selfish need to target their anger. Activism is rarely a completely altruistic pursuit of things, but there is always an aspect of self-entertainment. Circumstances force men to scrutinize their existence and their relationship with the world around them during one night. Men are of different ages and in different life situations, they have personal hopes and fears. Still, they are united by uncertainty about where the world is going. The tragicomic group is conducted by the furious Eddie, played by Jouko Klementtilä with a fast-paced touch. Eddie doesn’t want to settle for his fate as a flat-headed worker. For Gary, on the other hand, the history of labor is a glorious and meaningful fact that brings meaning to life. He has the element of an agitator, but also a dose of middle-classism. The gentlemen’s verbiage about the state of the modern world and the laws of the economy is at the same time sarcastic, mocking, bitter and wondering. These workers do not give a very promising picture of the “activism” of today’s youth. Pitch-black humour blossoms in Burge’s story, while the hollowness of humanity hums gloomily. The play, which lasts just over an hour and a half, is a strong flow from start to finish. The play keeps you in its grip, thanks to the excellent dialogue and acting, and the topicality of the subject adds even more interest. Globalization as a subject of drama feels as dry as prohibition. However, Burge has managed to create a story that entertains and makes you think deeply about the moral themes of the play. Burge is a child of his time and knows how to use popular entertainment culture to convey his weighty message. Despite the political tone, Gagarin’s path does not declare tongue-in-cheek. The play comments on society from the sidelines and acutely. The temperature rises in the play towards the end. The skein does not offer solutions, but kindling and firewood do. Director Maarit Ruikka has woven a durable and dense web that you can’t let go of even after the play has ended. More theatre with a message and content!
Lue lisää“Matti Olavi Ranin does a fine job in the role of the kidnapped boss Frank; a clever but life-weary man who reluctantly runs in the treadmill of capitalism.”
Lue lisääGregory Burke. Gagarin’s Road. Helsinki City Theatre, Studio Pasila. Translated by Sami Parkkinen. Directed by Maarit Ruikka. Set design Kaisa Niva. Costumes by Sari Suominen. Sound and music by Ari-Pekka Saarikko. Cast: Jouko Klemettilä, Mika Nuojua, Panu Vauhkonen and Matti Olavi Rani. Gagarin Way. Tampere Workers’ Theatre’s Basement Theatre. Directed by Tommi Auvinen. Set and costumes working group. Cast: Pentti Helin, Ola Tuominen, Antti Seppä, Lari Halme.
Lue lisää1. Could you first tell us a little about your background and what you did before you became a writer?
Lue lisääThe End of the Workers’ Hero Helsinki City Theatre: Studio Pasila: Gregory Burke: Gagarin’s Road. Finnish: Sami Parkkinen. Director: Maarit Ruikka. Set design: Kaisa Niva. Cast: Jouko Klemettilä, Mika Nuojua, Panu Vauhkonen, Matti Olavi Ranin. In British literature (and in real life, too), the working class hero plays a significant role. He is usually a powerful, enlightened, upright, class-conscious person who takes the side of his comrades against the capitalists. In the great coal mining strikes of the 1970s and 1980s, there were many people like him. In the Scottish play Gregory Burke’s The Way of Gagarin, the working-class hero is no longer enlightened or powerful. His class consciousness has become blurred, but he wants to do something, for example, give faceless, global capitalism some kind of face. So he has decided with a half-crazy psychopath to kidnap one of the international executives of his factory group. Of course, things go wrong. This working-class hero Gary (the excellent Panu Vauhkonen) declares himself a communist, but his thought structures are quite confused. However, the most important thing is that he is a good person. Jouko Klemettilä’shandsomely portrayed nihilistic psychopathic Eddie is sharper than Gary, he speaks sovereignly about existentialism, globalization, being a man, but nothing means anything to him, except perhaps violence, and even that is only a little. Gagarin’s path would be been a sin in the 70’s In the good old 70s, when political propaganda theatre was in its heyday, a work like Gagarin’s play The Road would have been slammed into the ground, and no one would have dared to perform it.
Lue lisääGagarin’s Road is a closed stretch of street in a small village in the coal mining district of Scotland. The region’s constituency is the only one from which a Communist representative has ever been elected to the British Parliament. Scottish playwright Gregory Burke, a member of the 30+ generation, named his debut play, which has become a worldwide success, after a street.
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