Charlie and Jake, Martti Suosalo and Mika Nuojua, step into the lives of a host of different men in Kiviä taskussa. Directed by Pentti Kotkaniemi, the characters’ fates and experiences are interwoven with Irish history. Kiviä taskussa is a phenomenon in Finnish theatre – it has played to sold-out audiences since 2002.

The director praises the play’s concept: “I’m amazed that it has taken until now for a contemporary playwright to use the mistero buffo technique, known since the Middle Ages, in which an actor switches roles simply by changing their rhythm and emphasis.” Suosalo and Nuojua are precisely the actors to master this role-switching technique. Between them, they play a total of 15 roles. “The changes happen in the blink of an eye, and the characters range from a sultry American beauty to a 75-year-old country bumpkin,” Kotkaniemi says.

Yet the story is no two-man comedy routine. “No, Kiviä taskussa is a tragicomedy and a demanding play for two actors,” Mika Nuojua says. The story begins when Charlie and Jake, two 35-year-old losers, sign up as extras on an American film shoot – only to find themselves doing something entirely different from what they had expected.

Director Kotkaniemi describes the play as a true actor’s piece. “That means both gentlemen need to be virtuosos. Fortunately, they are – and for a director, that’s like winning the lottery.”

Read Ilkka Pernu’s article on Kiviä taskussa in Image from 2013.

 

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