Viimeinen sikari

Pieni näyttämö
Ensi-ilta 6.5.2004
2 h 25 min
EUR 26

Huom! Poistunut ohjelmistosta!

ACTORS

Tea Ista
Lasse Pöysti
Mauri Heikkilä
Leenamari Unho

FINNISH TRANSLATION Lasse Pöysti

CONTROL Bengt Ahlfors

PRODUCTION Erik Salvesen

SUITS Sari Salmela

Galleria

Kaksi naista seisoo vierekkäin hymyillen. Toisella on keltainen kukkamekko ja toisella siniruutuinen esiliina kukkapaidan ja sinisen otsapannan päällä. Molemmat vaikuttavat sitoutuneilta ja iloisilta kirkkaasti valaistussa ympäristössä.

Vanhempi mies harmaassa liivissä ja nainen keltaisessa mekossa ja harmaassa takissa hymyilevät lämpimästi seisoessaan yhdessä viihtyisässä, lämpimästi valaistussa lavastuksessa, jonka taustalla on klassisia huonekaluja.

Kukkapuseroon pukeutunut iäkäs nainen elehtii tunteikkaasti kahden vanhemman miehen välissä, joista toisella on liivi ja toisella musta puku, näyttämöllä, joka muistuttaa viihtyisää olohuonetta, jossa on kirjahyllyjä ja puuhuonekaluja.

Lyhyet valkoiset hiukset omaava iäkäs mies, jolla on tumma villapaita kauluspaidan päällä, hymyilee lempeästi kameralle vaaleanharmaalla taustalla.

Vanhempi nainen, jolla on vaaleat hiukset ja siniset silmät, vaaleanpunainen pusero ja turkoosit korvakorut, poseeraa vaaleaa taustaa vasten lempeä ilme kasvoillaan.

Värikkääseen puseroon pukeutunut iäkäs nainen pitää kädestä kiinni ja katselee papiksi pukeutunutta iäkästä miestä. He seisovat lähekkäin hämärästi valaistulla näyttämöllä ja näyttävät jakavan tunteikkaan hetken.

Sisällä kaksi vanhempaa miestä: toinen seisoo harmaaliivissä, vaaleansinisessä paidassa ja rusetissa, toinen istuu oranssilla tuolilla mustaan nahkatakkiin pukeutuneena. Taustalla näkyy pieni pöytä, jossa on kirjoja.

Keltaiseen kukkamekkoon pukeutunut nainen seisoo sisätiloissa, pitää kameraa kasvojaan vasten ja katsoo etsimen läpi, kun hän ottaa kuvaa. Hänellä on aurinkolasit päässään ja vakava ilme.

Harmaaliiviin ja siniseen paitaan pukeutunut iäkäs mies istuu oranssissa nojatuolissa, nojaa päänsä käteensä ja näyttää mietteliäältä. Hänellä on kädessään aikakauslehti. Taustalla on sivupöytä, jossa on kirjoja ja punainen omena.

Vanhempi valkotukkainen mies, jolla on musta nahkatakki ja mustat housut, elehtii yhdellä kädellä huoneessa, jossa on kirjahyllyjä, puupaneloidut ovet ja seinälle kiinnitetty korppi.

Vanhempi mies, jolla on lyhyet valkoiset hiukset, vaaleansininen paita ja harmaa liivi, katsoo hieman olkansa yli ilmeikkäästi ja suu auki. Tausta on pehmeästi sumea.

Vanhempi harmaahiuksinen mies, jolla on vaaleansininen paita, harmaa liivi ja harmaat housut, seisoo sisätiloissa pitelemässä esinettä toisessa kädessään ja toinen käsi taskussaan katsellen sivulle.

Arviot

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Arvio

It works after all The story of Hungarian Ferenc Molnár’s Liliom on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre is already over. It received 28 performances. The Last Cigar, written and directed by Bengt Ahlfors, a comedy for elderly people starring Lasse Pöysti and Tea Ista, has been transferred to the major repertoire. The premiere of The Last Cigar was seen on the small stage of the City Theatre last spring. The news of the transfer made me fear the worst. What happens to an intimate performance by four actors, what happens to the expression itself, when the interpretation is moved to a crowd twice as large? I had to go and see it. And surprise, surprise, it worked after all. It was proven that talk about the actors’ professionalism is not just nonsense. They moved The Last Cigar to the new premises almost unforcedly. The duration of the performance also stretched as much as the intermission took up. It is always a little longer.

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Arvio

The Last Cigar is a charmingly unconventional play about agingCharlotte Estman-WennströmRagnar (Lasse Pöysti, left), Anneli (Tea Ista) and Helge (Mauri Heikkilä) age passionately in Bengt Ahlfors’ play The Last Cigar.What could be sweeter than a couple who have been married for 40 years. The edges have been polished, the self has turned into a common will. Now we are celebrating our leisurely retirement days and enjoying the achievements of our life together. You might think so, but that’s not the case, at least if Bengt Ahlfors is to be believed. Ahlfors’ The Last Cigar, written for the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, is exactly what this time needs: a performance that sweetly demolishes senior stereotypes and depicts people as human beings, regardless of their age. At least I was somewhat sold in front of the performance. The last cigar is probably good for every thirty-year-old who thinks they know what people are like as they get older.A cigar kills, life doesn’tThe main couple of the play are retired principal Ragnar (Lasse Pöysti) and former librarian Anneli (Tea Ista). Ragnar’s vices are fancy cigars and the occasional whiskey bottle, which Anneli can’t stand, of course. Alcohol and cigars are deadly, even doctors say so. On the other hand, is life without passions a life at all? The “baboon cage” of the small town is distressing in other ways as well, but luckily there is a vicar Helge (Mauri Heikkilä), a loyal old friend to whom Ragnar can lighten his heart. It’s not really worth revealing more about the plot, but you can play with the riddles. According to Elmer Diktonius, only domesticated birds feel longing, as wild birds are used to flying. Martin Luther played with the same metaphor: let the birds fly, as long as they don’t make a nest over my head. Ragnar and Helge move between these two extremes. But which one will the passions ultimately win? And whose trajectory will take you dangerously close to the sun?A mix of genresIn terms of genres, The Last Cigar is quite a chameleon. Ahlfors skilfully navigates his unconventional narrative on the interfaces of drama, comedy and farce, but does not completely surrender to any genre. The element of surprise is one of the greatest assets of the text. What at first looks like a light-hearted comedy turns into serious drama in the next act. And what looks like a drama is – well, life, in all its banal brutality. In films, this could be called a drama-comedy. The ending turns downright philosophical when Ragnar, who has cancer, says that he lives three weeks away from death. Of course, the future deceased is granted certain exemptions, at least the last cigar now.Apollo and DionysusAhlfors’ direction proceeds calmly, respecting the text and the rock-solid acting. Ahlfors has said that he wrote the role of Ragnar specifically with Pöysti in mind. Pöysti is so effortlessly so natural as Ragnari that the role of the secretive and rogue-like principal begins to look like the alter ego of a veteran actor. As the plot thickens, Pöysti is able to show that he has mastered not only Apollonian serenity but also the manifestation of the Dionysian side of the human mind. The passionate and fierce Dionysus is also an old acquaintance of Mauri Heikkilä’s Helge, whose public life as a small-town clergyman has forced him into an outward calm. But as we know, there are dark spots at the bottom of even the clearest lake.Double lifeTea Ista also lives a believable double life as Anneli. One of the rules of the game is that the exterior of a cultured and strong homemaker does not reveal even a shred of the passions that are swirling inside. Leenamari Unho’s Monika is Helge’s daughter, a photographer whose career and marriage are on hold. Monika’s main task is to act as a mirror to an era when the “I will” said in front of a priest was still a sign of lifelong commitment, no matter the cost. The dramaturgy is nicely boosted by Antero Mansikka’s small-minded soundscape: by the beginning of the last act, the Summer Hymn has been replaced by the rumble of thunder. Now we are expecting a Dionysian storm, not a light summer rain.The Last Cigar (Den sista cigarren). Press premiere of the premiere of the Helsinki City Theatre’s Small Stage 5.5. Written and directed by Bengt Ahlfors. Translated by Lasse Pöysti. Set design: Erik Salvesen. Costumes: Sari Salmela. Lights: Juhani Leppänen. Sound: Antero Mansikka. Cast: Lasse Pöysti, Tea Ista, Mauri Heikkilä, Leenamari Unh

Lue lisää

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Arvio

Tea Ista is the gem of the stage in Bengt Ahlfors’ The Last CigarBengt Ahlfors: The Last Cigar. Helsinki City Theatre, small stage. Translated by Lasse Pöysti, directed by Bengt Ahlfors, set design by Erkki Salvesen, costumes by Sari Salmela, lighting by Juhani Leppänen, sound by Antero Mansikka, cast by Lasse Pöysti, Tea Ista, Mauri Heikkilä and Leenamari Unho.It may be my fault, but it’s hard to imagine a situation where the fine Tea Ista would whip the handcuffed vicar of a small town, Mauri Heikkilä, in the church sacristy towards a sadomasochistic orgasm. I won’t reveal much more about the plot, but that’s the kind of sex Bengt Ahlfors’ new play The Last Cigar is about, albeit an act somewhere else. The comedy of scale, written for Lasse Pöysti, works at the level of its foreboding, yet surprising twists. It works from the humour created by situations. Less apt is laughing at the elderly who are grieving for a lifeless life. And the audience laughed, laughed when we made laugh. Be that as it may, the Helsinki City Theatre has found a golden egg in the content structure of its repertoire.The population is also ageing in theatre auditoriums. It is increasingly difficult to identify with the problems of teenagers dripping with love pain, the Romeos and Juliets, but Tea Ista and Lasse Pöysti are nannas. The Quartet on the small stage is sold out on the small stage of the City Theatre. The same fate seems to await The Last Cigar, starring Ista and Pöysti. There was room for a few scattered seats for yesterday’s premiere and the next time only next January. The performance for this year is fully booked. Ticket sales for the 2005 performances will begin in September, according to the Helsinki City Theatre.There are four people in The Last Cigar: a retired principal, a librarian wife who has left work, a parish priest of a small town, and a priest’s daughter who is about to divorce. For all of these, The Last Cigar seeks the right to their own life and all kinds of joys. Of course, we viewers agree. The elderly also have the right to sex and love.But the plot, sometimes with gunshots and deadly diseases, is absolutely impossible. And the structure? The matter, i.e. the plot, is only tackled when the intermission arrives. There, the play brightens up into theatre and the spectator also cheers up, if there is anything left to cheer up after the initial half-hour long rants and marinades and other undramatic stuff. Lasse Pöysti’s director, Bengt Ahlfors, occasionally places himself on the front stage to rant directly to the audience about the principal’s missed opportunities. Quite underlined, even though Pöysti plays his role with his familiar guaranteed qualities: warmth, self-irony and controlled outsiderness.However, Tea Ista is a gem of interpretation, as long as her role is finally allowed to begin. He is unsurpassably precise in his observations, even when the play leaves the actor standing on the wall. She is cutting as a woman seeking her rights and a woman in particular, sensual and beautiful. He is the right person in the interpretation. Mauri Heikkilä is also charming, but a bit wooden as a vicar when he extends his arms. Played by Leenamari Unho, the daughter contemplating divorce is a fresh and energetic person. Erik Salvesen has staged the living room interior to make it inhabited and cozy. The dresses designed by Sari Salmela tell the story of their wearers and suit them.In the pre-premiere screening, the audience liked what they saw. It didn’t matter if the theme of infidelity in the story just walked out the doors in the finale without a final treatment. The actors’ skills and charisma were decisive. They are the best thing about The Last Cigar.

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