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Note: No longer in repertoire!
Cast: Pekka Huotari, Sami Hokkanen, Sanna Majuri, Teemu Mustonen,
Jyrki Nousiainen, Jari Pehkonen, Matti Rasila, Aarno Sulkanen, Hannes Suominen
Stage adaptation: Lauri Sipari
Direction: Petteri Sallinen
Set design: Hannu Lindholm
Costume design: Marjatta Nissinen
Lighting design: Juhani Leppänen
Sound design: Mauri Siirala
THE SERGEANT MAJOR KNOWS HOW TO DEAL WITH CRAZY PEOPLEManilla, that perennial tropical plant belonging to the banana family, is native to the Philippines, where it is mainly cultivated. Rope, made of fibres or thick string braided from strands, is usually necessary for pulling objects or fastening. The rope can be made of hemp, nylon or from Manila. Let us focus on the latter.The manila rope also fascinates Joose from Keppilä. Let’s return home from the battlefield, and Private Keppilä wants to bring his wife Viira a little longer than his hand as a souvenir. And so that the stinginess would not be revealed, the guys wrap the rope tightly around Joose’s . But when Joose arrives, the spirit is so weak that Viira breaks the rope around the starving one. That’s the frame story, but that’s not all.
Read moreTRIBUTE TO THE MANILA ROPEA grassy stage rising upwards, with railway tracks in front of it and both tower-like structures rise on one side of the stage. That’s the Manilla Rope An unchanging stage that fits in its simplicity and in its diversity, it is an excellent modern Manila rope-like as a stage for narrative and even meta-narrative.
Read moreTHE MANILA ROPE BINDS THE VIEWER’S INTEREST Many middle-aged people are probably familiar with this book list: Kalevala, The Unknown Soldier, Pearl, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies and Manilla Rope. So yes, middle school and mother tongue lessons. And for many, the latter could remain quite indigestible when the reader’s age was 14 and the rapi on top.Things are different now, when there is – fortunately – more age and understanding. Lauri Siparin Manilla Rope , dramatised for the Helsinki City Theatre, is great theatre. In Sipari’s version, we also see the writer and his friend Tuomas Anhava on stage, who fruitfully and passionately discuss the deepest essence of writing on the crest of the wave of modernism in the 50s. Väinö Linna’s main work also gets a part in the discussion.
Read moreMARINE MANILA ROPEAfter the premiere ended, Veijo Meri stepped onto the stage, the applause grew louder and the audience stood up. There was a reason. Without Veijo Meri, the whole of Finnish writing could look different. Meri’s concise saying, the narrative that connects even distant things in a strange way and meanders logically uncontrollably, have already influenced many generations of writers. Meri found her style in the Manilla Rope, which was published 50 years ago. The following happens: Joose Keppilä finds a manila rope at the front, smuggles it home wrapped around his body and is about to be crushed to death. You can’t get a novel out of this yet. Carrying a rope is just an excuse to tell and hear the most extraordinary stories. As a novel, Manilla Rope is so loose that it does not become a complete play. Still, it can be made into a good theatrical performance, at least if you put it in the way Lauri Sipari does . In addition to the content of the book, he has also included the writing time. It is a good solution, because Manilla Rope got its sounding board from the cultural controversy of the time between modernism in Helsinki and realism in Tampere. When so many different elements are brought to the stage, the audience does not always know what is going on, and the performers do not pretend to know either. At times, even The Unknown is quoted and we have to admit that we are now in the wrong play. It is precisely this uncertainty that becomes a real cunning sea-likeness. In this kind of genre, the entire cast of performers has to stretch themselves to quick role changes. And yes, they do, especially the phenomenal Jari Pehkonen. He gets to amuse the audience both as Tuomas Anhava, who directs the writer, and as a sergeant major and station commander who deals with madmen. The duration is less than two hours and it is just right. As such, the Manilla Rope leaves you feeling refreshed.
Read moreLAUGHTER AT THE MADNESS OF WARI haven’t been to the war, and I don’t happen to be a man either, but none of these obvious shortcomings prevented me from enjoying the Helsinki City Theatre’s Manilla Rope. I think I even choked my throat when the full audience jumped to their feet and directed their unstinging applause to the writer Veijo Meri, who appeared on stage at the end of the performance.According to the story, the title of the play refers to the rope carried home by Private Joose Keppilä as spoils of war, the only usable object that grabbed the man’s hand from the campaign. The rope wrapped around the tight chest could also keep the man’s mind in check: at least he won’t come back empty-handed. Unfortunately, his wife Elviira nibbles the rope armor off Joose at the end. Reality must be embraced without armor, just as it is.So what is it about the play dramatised by Lauri Sipari that speaks to you? Perhaps it is the distancing and looseness achieved through stylization under the direction of Petteri Sallinen , under the cover of which it is possible to laugh at war, war fatigue, soldiers who have gone mad, death, stubborn Finnish and former German comrades-in-arms.The humour is sometimes directed directly at the audience, sometimes it ignites from the situation comedy developed by the men. The audience will be able to participate in a cluster of war stories, which is complemented by good music choices. In between, there is silence for blood-curdling experiences.The play is on the rise. The first act serves as an introduction, and the most hearty laughs break out after the intermission. An additional plus is the snappy flow of the story. With intermissions, the performance lasts less than two hours.
Read moreAPPEAL AGAINST THE FOLLY OF WARThe City Theatre’s Manilla Rope is an impressive performance. It’s funny and entertaining, but also a deep plea against the madness of war. There are no heroes in this play, but there is love and empathy. Lauri Sipari has dramatised the play mainly on the basis of Veijo Meri’s novel Manillaköysi and the texts about its writing. The frame story includes many stories, including fragments from the author’s own life more than 50 years ago. The anxiety of an anti-hero returning from the front, the madness of war and, in spite of everything, an enormous zest for life are present. Manilla Rope, directed by Petteri Sallinen, is a carnivalesque work that moves freely in time and space. It corresponds to the definition Tuomas Anhava gave to the novel 50 years ago: a gruesomely grotesque, humorous cluster of war stories. The play has different layers side by side, nested and overlapped. Sometimes it feels like the viewers are being teased: does anyone notice this?
Read moreTHE LIVING WORDThe experience in the Helsinki City Theatre’s play Manilla Rope is a bit like in The Seven Brothers or The Unknown Soldier: was this saying here too, and this story too! Directed by Petteri Sallinen and dramatised by Lauri Sipari, Manilla Rope is a living celebration of sayings and stories. Now we don’t writhe in family hell or get anxious about the pressures of being a father, mother or child, but there is still plenty to think about. For example, let’s think about what separates the crazy from the wise and what the starry sky looks like (literally) seen through the human eye. Effort has been put into the adaptation. Even the young Veijo Meri has been brought along to write his classic, and the soldiers are not let go easily. The viewers also learn, among other things, how to survive the war.The title character of Manilla Rope is Joose Keppilä (Pekka Huotari), who is puffing up inside the rope with a red face, but the master of the stage is the light-hearted and sloppy Jari Pehkonen, who has many roles.The entertaining and, despite its warlike theme, light-hearted play lasts less than two hours (including intermissions). A concise and good package.Plus points to the theatre for a well-made script, from which it is worth reviewing Veijo Meri’s abundant production and wise thoughts. At the premiere, author Meri took the stage with a final thank you, and it was a delicate moment.
Read moreBROKEN MANILA ROPE ON STAGEIt took a long time before Veijo Meri’s Manilla Rope found its way to the stage. The book has been a staple of Finnish reading and has ended up under the magnifying glass of many literary scholars. Manilla Rope is the first modernist work on war in Finnish literature. Lauri Sipari has tackled this among other things in his dramatisation and jumped from the original text to an outside observer of literature. He has used texts on Meri’s own authorship and contemporary literature alongside the source text.The story of Joose Keppilä is not seen on stage, but his painful tug-of-war sinks into a subplot among other stories set on the battlefield. The fragmented story blows strongly in a comic direction – so much so that at times its purpose is questioned. In the midst of intestines and half-shot heads, the moaning crowd even feels macabre.But, the audience liked what they saw. On the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, people laughed at the jokes and silly movements.
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