Accessibility tools
AI-translated website—pardon any small errors!
Note: No longer in repertoire!
Cast: Rauno Ahonen, Seppo Halttunen, Markku Huhtamo, Toni Kamula, Jouko Klemettilä,
Pertti Koivula, Antti Litja, Seppo Maijala, Pihla Penttinen, Tiina Pirhonen,
Matti Olavi Ranin, Matti Rasila, Aino Seppo, Hannes Suominen
Directed by: Milko Lehto
Set design: Markus Tsokkinen
Costume design: Elina Kolehmainen
Lighting and video design: Petteri Pietiäinen
Sound design: Antero Mansikka
The mole is now being chased on stage Domestic political satire has grown properly from undersized existence. Based on Jari Tervo’s novel Mole and Sami The dramatisation of the play of the same name by Keski-Vähälä rejoices supported by real and imaginary people in the Helsinki At the City Theatre. For almost three hours, the hunt for Mole is on the theatre’s small stage. The events take place in Finland in the late 70s and early 80s, and Soviet Union and the memories of the then president over decades back – to 1918 and encounters with the neighboring Generalissimus. Fiction has a harsh place in the text, but the truth is so charmingly a lot as a binder that gets confused. And that creates the charm of the Mole .
Read moreMole The City Theatre’s novelty is a joyful rendition of Jari Tervo’s novel. Milko Lehto has directed a spectacle in which not even gravestones are left unturned. Antti Litja is in the role of his life as the charismatic, ironic Kekkonen. Rauno Ahonen is doing well as an opponent.
Read moreTHE MOLE DEPICTS FINNISH HISTORY IN A CARNIVALESQUE WAY Jari Tervo was not nominated for the Finlandia Prize, but he was able to premiere the play version of his play Mole at the Helsinki City Theatre.The performance outlines the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union through the filter of Finlandization, without shying away from grotesque colors. The game is so intense that it doesn’t matter if a few pieces fall. Sami Keski-Vähälä’s dramatization focuses on Kekkonen’s last decade, to which the past drives its wedges through the delusions of an old man. Kekkonen is the centre of his memoirs, but as a side thread there is the activities of the black sheep of the communist family, Supo detective Jura Karhu.Already at the beginning of the play, the way in which everything should be approached is expressed when the ball grill Sputnik collides with a huge teddy bear named Misha. Props are often used to steer the interpretation in that direction: cosmonauts in sheepskin caps and ice hockey players stumbling on their hockey skates wearing their huge prenikas.The common thread should be the search for a spy, a mole. One assumption is that the mole is Kekkonen. However, the common thread twists into many twists and turns during the performance.
Read moreRECENT HISTORY IN SWING Helsinki City Theatre’s Mole makes you laugh like a TV showHelsinki City Theatre has brought a dramatised play based on Jari Tervo’s novel Mole to its Small Stage. The premiere proved that Tervo is a great humorist, whose colourful interpretations of recent history are also suitable for the theatre stage.As a novel, Mole is extensive and multi-layered. As a dramaturg, Sami Keski-Vähälä has done a great job and has created a play for Mole .Director Milko Lehto has had an almost similar challenge, as he has managed to fit the scenes that come at a fast pace in many different environments on the small stage of the City Theatre and right in front of the audience’s eyes.This has also required a lot of thinking and simplification from set designer Markus Tsokkinen . In the play Mole, the spectator side and even the audience are often used as UKK’s dance partner.Events and hilarious scenes in the City Theatre’s interpretation of Mole last for almost three hours. The interpretation is so entertaining that the time in the audience does not get long.However, the play cannot be called a farce, even though there are plenty of farcical features. The scenes that take place in the spotlight on a small stage are reminiscent of traditional television sketch shows.
Read moreFINLAND IS DEAD, THE MOLE PERFORMS AN AUTOPSY Jari Tervo’s Mole is a Lump. This most significant Finnish novel of the new millennium to date is an extraordinarily multi-layered work.Dramatizing Mole on stage is a completely impossible task. But the same is true, of course, of many other great classics of world literature. Our luck is that no one has ever remembered to tell William Shakespeare and his spiritual heirs.Tervo himself says in an interview published on the City Theatre’s website that in his book he describes power and love, they just often look like violence and sex.Certainly so, but the truth lies in the details, in the nuances. An overly perfect picture is not credible. The age-old elements of power are subjugation and deception. In war and love, all means are allowed, as they say.In addition to everything else, Mole is also a political thriller. Therefore, there is no reason to tell its plot here. This side can be enjoyed by those viewers who, for some incomprehensible reason, have not yet read Tervo’s book.In any case, dramaturg Sami Keski-Vähälä and director Milko Lehto have also encountered the basic problem of the politician himself when they take up Tervo’s book. How to reconcile one’s own political convictions, or in this case, artistic vision, with the boundary conditions of reality?Tervo’s verbal tragicomedy turns into a farce in natural theatrical expression. On the other hand, Tervo’s book is full of brilliantly written and in-depth dialogue, which is also proven by the fact that as an audiobook, Tervo’s Mole is a real treat.One of the key scenes in the book is the conversation between Urho Kekkonen and Joseph Stalin in the Kremlin shortly after the war, which ends with an enigmatic dance performance.Keski-Vähälä and Lehto have cleared plenty of space for this scene in accordance with its importance in the first act of the play. For this reason, the first and second acts are a slightly different pair than Foreign Minister Pertti Paasio’s shoes back in the day. The throttle is really pushed to the bottom only after the intermission.The installation of the mole tells the viewer that there is currently one brighter star shining above the Finnish theatrical sky, which the others are looking towards Bethlehem.Luckily, there are plenty of bugs and myrrh in this treasure chest of ideas. On top of that, the City Theatre’s working group is doing very well in the wit competition. For example, the scene in which a “sign language” interpreter interprets Kekkonen’s speech in what was then West Germany is hilarious.Direct quotes from another work of art are also an old and highly recommended way to keep the reader or viewer on the map. When the surviving soldiers in Kristian Smeds‘ The Unknown Soldier sing that Finland is dead, Mole is a kind of autopsy. What disease did this man of principle actually die of?Tervo seeks an answer to the question from two statements concerning the ethics and morality of the use of power. Firstly, according to him, Finland was a kind of baker of Treblinka, who fed and clothed the world’s largest and most efficiently run concentration camp, the Soviet Union, for its own benefit.Another claim, or rather self-evident, is that Joseph Stalin, the chief architect of this reign of terror, was not a monster, but a human being.In his book, Tervo tries to imagine what kind of a hole each of the key political actors in “Central Slovakia” managed to dig for themselves on this battlefield of reality and human emotions, and he does it so skillfully that even quite smart people mixed fact and fiction together when arguing about Tervo’s book.The hero of Tervo’s book is Jura Karhu, a detective of the Finnish Security Police, a kind of Don Quixote who fights against windmills with the power of scepticism. Not even the Finnish Security Intelligence Service knows everything, and there is no folder for everything… At least not perfect.In the book, Stalin justifies his atrocities with reason, they are logical moves from the point of view of the author. The killing of millions of people is not a moral problem, but a practical problem that is very difficult to solve. No one would do such a thing without a very valid reason.Tervo emphasizes Stalin’s humanity by making Jura Karhu his doppelganger. Ever since he was a young man, Jura has been nicknamed Dzhugashvili because of his appearance.Keski-Vähälä and Lehto do not take advantage of this opportunity in their choice of roles. The Stalin of the Helsinki City Theatre is simply the biggest dick of the bunch, and as such, he is unique.There is certainly a reason for this, and I think Rauno Ahonen is an excellent choice for the role of Jura Karhu in all his absolutes. With her performance, Ahonen gives the character dimensions that did not occur to me, at least, when I read the book. Antti Litja is in his element in the role of the old Kekkonen. As Stalin, Pertti Koivula does what the narrow conditions given by the director and dramatist make possible.The other actors work on double, triple or even quadruple roles and also participate in spectacular crowd scenes. Helsinki City Theatre’s Mole is busy on stage itself, and the circus is certainly at least as fast-paced going on behind the scenes during the performance with endless costume changes.The aesthetics of set designer Markku Tsokkinen reminds the audience of one of the dimensions of Tervo’s book, which otherwise has had to be left out of the play almost entirely. The Siberian railway built on the stage also gives speed to the scenes.The inputs work like, eh… The toilet on the train. The Mole starts off a bit awkwardly, but Lehto and Keski-Vähälä handle the second demanding part, the ending of the story, really stylishly. When Tervo ends his book somewhat enigmatically, Keski-Vähälä bangs a full stop at the end of the last sentence.The Soviet Union has not yet disappeared and will not disappear until the Russians themselves settle accounts with their own history. And of course, the same applies to us Finns.If you judge Helsinki City Theatre’s Mole on its most important feature, i.e. its attractiveness, the performance deserves a full ten.
Read moreA MOLE DUG A HOLE THE SIZE OF A STAGEWhat may have happened here is not necessarily the fault of the “lifters on stage”.Namely, Jari Tervo’s Mole is so cunning for a novel that when you try to force it into another form, when the tail rises, the beak sticks and when the beak comes off, the tail feathers are already in a pinch. The narrator’s opening text masters history and imaginative history in the terrain, is not afraid of climbs, lets go flat with a beanie on his ears and pursues the expressions of a bird of prey, and concentrates on the descent enjoyably, beveling the bends of the trail with his sides. The dramatist has to make his choice. What to take, what to leave. What about the equipment and lubrication, glide and grip? Misjudging or taking risks can lead to a mess.
Read moreA MOLE DIGS OUT OF THE BUSHES OF FARCE Jari Tervo’s Mole has taken shape dramaturg Sami Keski-Vähälä into a hilarious political satire, in which it is necessary to a lot of good old Bush farce.The central character: the old president is tragic character, it feels like he is the only one the reins of the kingdom in their hands, Others are drinking and splurging And at the same time, doubts The president to be a traitor.The president has problems with their conscience. He worries Red prisoners who were forced to in his youth. He meditates with disgust on Stalin’s murders, especially those of a young person murder of a woman. However, he doesn’t swing too much with your own people’s sins. With them, he rules. Antti Litja is excellent President. He has recently played several roles in the nation’s great men, and not a single one Statues. President of Litjan carries the entire play.In the beginning, the Mole is time fragmented, a kind of sketch collection. Without Litja, it’s all right would crumble the power. Later story starts to go smoothly, and the second act puts together the plot pieces so well than they can be assembled.There is no point in real history from the performance but a certain kind of The general view is true. Fiction touches on the truth sometimes deeper than a hard fact. Cruelty Theatre is touched upon In the carnivalesque film directed by Milko Lehto, The adventures in the performance are both Beria and Stalin, Not to mention Brezhnev and Suslov and there is a glimpse of Paavo Even Väyrynen. Pertti Koivula Stalin is a horrible, laughing Psychopath, theatre of cruelty is represented by Jouko Klemettilä’s Beriakin.Beria Klemettilä ends up in Stalin’s At the command of a ballet dancer, in the case of small Dance of swans. The performance is In all its grotesqueness, It’s great that he got a round of applause at the premiere And rightly so.Klemettilä’s second character, Sampo Kajanne, the president’s fictional illegitimate son, drunkard gay, continues the cruelty style. He deals with Finnish design glass in a horrible way. But there is An extremely talented diplomat.Before the puritanical 1990s In diplomacy, drunkenness does not was not a vice. At most It was a little embarrassing if a diplomat or the foreign minister went out at official dinners. Who is Mole? In the mole they are looking for a mole so The Communist Party of Finland from the Central Committee as the Reich from the highest authority. Jurassic Karhu, a member of a communist family has been recruited by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service. detective. He receives an order investigate whether the President Soviet spy. He takes his work very seriously, and doesn’t realize that he’s being used good. Rauno Ahonen plays Karhu a little confused. He is a very strange person, because the son of a communist family Supo has few like a hawk chick in a chicken coop. The Supo patterns are reminiscent of a hint of Usko Kyykän adventures. Especially Karhu’s Communist family brings to mind The Makkonen brothers.Everything else except Litja, Ahonen and Koivula-Stalin present many different characters. Seppo Maijala is a Soviet ambassador, Belyakov and Stepanov As a combination, it’s a bit of a sissy done. As Brezhnev, he is a facsimile edition. Pihla Penttilä is the punk detective of Supo, Such would have been needed even in real life. Tiina Pirhonen’s sex-oozing Commodore Aleksandra gets a man like a man in his bed and to shed among other things, secrets. Elsewhere, he is a slob The president’s mistress. Speed and colour is sufficient Mole is insightfully staged and costumed. Puffy, half-dead The Soviet leaders have A stunning sight with a tall hat and piles of decorations.There are funny scenes, for example How many: Diver pushing fish for high guests lures, Ambassador Stepa Marshal swimming in a hole in the ice When Ustinov demanded that Finland and the Soviet Union’s joint military exercises,” the President replies by singing the Rose of Kotka.The music used in Mole is often the Soviet anthem, Putin I’m sure I wouldn’t like it here as it is a Russian The current national anthem, the latest I said yes. The mole is more spectacular than thought-provoking, but it captivates the viewer. The performance lasts just under three hours, And I never looked at the clock.Fragmented Mole though Yes. The dramatization of the book is not easy and it hasn’t quite worked out in this case either. Tervon The novel is a stage performance more profound.The book’s brutal humour and A certain cynicism are on the scene escaped. I don’t know if it’s worth it to yearn for the so-called. Drama arc when the performance has color and There is plenty of speed.
Read moreGREATER THAN ITS MISSION AND ITS FATHERLAND A brilliant dramatisation of Jari Tervo’s novelThe most striking thing about Helsinki City Theatre’s Mole is the dramaturgical strength and inventive staging of the three-hour spectacle. Jari Tervo’s monumental novel is more or less hopeless to adapt, but Sami Keski-Vähälä has miraculously managed to overcome the challenges of the source text. And the stage version of Mole is not even a best-of compilation of the original novel, but an independent work of art that also pays tribute to Tervo with its existence.Dramaturg Keski-Vähälä and director Milko Lehto build an entire recent historical reality on the small stage of the City Theatre, progressing from the ramparts of Hamina in 1918 to the fictional death of President Kekkonen . Occasionally, they visit a Soviet rifle factory and the Kremlin, but the clever use of the small space and simple sets avoids the feeling of packing too much material into too narrow a framework.The performance is based on the elderly president’s future memoirs and the recurring nightmares that he wakes up to in the nocturnal Tamminiemi area. Memories of a young man leading an execution squad and interrogating the Punik chief in the chambers of the Central Police are repeated in the illusions. The old old president also recalls the prospects of Stalin’s funeral, humiliating YYA negotiations and Soviet generals’ attempts to subject Finland to joint military exercises with its eastern neighbour.At times, two Kekkonens of different ages are seen on stage, and the solution does not give the impression of a history lecture at all. Rather, the character deepens, the character becomes flesh.
Read moreLAUGHTER AT STLIN AND FINLANDIZATIONHelsinki City Theatre continues to deal with recent history with an entertaining touch by tackling Jari Tervo’s bestselling novel Mole (2004), which happily mixes fiction and fact. The topic is, nothing less and no more than Kekkonen himself and the time of Finlandization. Milko Lehto, who directed On the Way to Porkkala and Beljakov’s Winter in the Same House, is responsible for the slightly more fast-paced and looser direction.
Read more
