Layers of truth, fairy tale, news and rumours mix on stage
In 2010, the Italian media feverishly followed a criminal investigation in a small village where a missing 15-year-old girl was found dead. In addition to the villagers, the murder shook the whole of Italy, and everyone wanted to know what had happened to the girl. In the end, the case became a complex tangle to which several members of the village community were connected in one way or another.
This real event is loosely based on Sinna Virtanen’s Beauty and the MooseÖt. It draws on the true crime genre, but as a work it is independent and fictional.
“The play works on the structure of the Cluedo game and tries to unravel a very unclear tragedy faced by the community. It reflects on the selling of grief, collective murder and sensationalism. Whether private suffering can be turned into common property,” says director Linda Wallgren.
The play also borrows and reinterprets different versions of the fairy tale Beauty and the Elk, in which a young woman is forced by circumstances to live in a monster’s castle, but ultimately makes a conscious choice to stay there.
Exceptional AtmosphereBeauty and the Elkis Virtanen’s bachelor’s thesis from 2012, which was directed by Wallgren’s classmate in cooperation between the Theatre Academy and NÄTY. The play came back to Wallgren’s mind when she was thinking about what she would like to direct for the acting bachelor’s group.
“This is a good alternative to the classic, because it has the seriousness of ancient stories or Shakespeare, but the text is very modern. Now it has been updated to the present moment,” Wallgren says.
Wallgren thinks that Beauty and the Mooseis exceptional in its language and atmosphere. It combines opposing elements, such as cuteness and macabre or an everyday and menacing atmosphere. When watching the play, you quickly start to feel that something is wrong, even though everything seems ordinary on the surface.
Wallgren thinks that the most interesting thing about Virtanen’s text is what is revealed between the lines. “It’s a sense of some vague danger, combined with a touching, human experience, of loss and an attempt to free oneself from narrow attitudes and compartments,” he explains.
According to Wallgren, however, the performance is not scary, but rather fascinating and hot, as layers of truth, fairy tales, news and rumours mix on stage.
In addition to the tragedy of the individual, Beauty and the Beastdeals with collective responsibility. At the same time, it reflects on how narratives are repeated in the media and in our culture, in which there is a juxtaposition between good and evil, or beautiful and ugly.
“The play does a great job of unravelling how we are all permeated by stories like this, without being preachy, but rather human and lyrical,” Wallgren says.
The surprising performanceBeauty and the Mooseis set in an Italian village and a nearby rose garden. The beautiful and recognizable landscape creates a contrast to the dark tones of the true-based event.
“This can be a rich and surprising performance visually and musically. Since this borrows from the means of fairy tales and cartoons, you can suddenly jump into a joyful narrative and then go to something very small and private.”
Wallgren says that his directing is characterised by a dense rhythm, the use of surprising theatrical means and the role of music as a narrative element. These features are also recognizable in this work.
Beauty and the Beast uses a simultaneous stage technique that allows the audience to follow the stories of several people at the same time. Wallgren hopes that the viewer will be delighted, shocked and empathetic towards the characters.
“We have a talented and diverse cast with enormous potential for the performance to take off. Despite the gloomy undertones, this can be joyful, airy and breathing.”
Text Ida Henritius