New demands of working life – interview with director Sini Pesonen
A major structural change is underway in working life. But how is it reflected in the roastery?
Anni, who has a higher education, is looking for an expert job at a small roastery. She has had bad luck in her job search in the past, so she asks her sister Olivia for help with the interview situation. In a job interview, Olivia is mistaken for her academic sister, and so Olivia ends up working in a roastery instead of Anni.
An accidental identity scam starts a play in which we get to follow how Olivia manages in the roastery without any substance expertise and what kind of collisions modern working life causes, for example, to representatives of different generations and genders.
Director Sini Pesonen describes Paahtimo as a skilfully written comedy of today’s working life.
“The Roastery is an intelligent comedy. There are exaggerated people, phenomena of change in working life that are recognizable from this time, and people who are trying to cope under pressure in the midst of change.”
An interesting lie or a boring truth?The comedic nature of the roastery arises from the façade that the characters maintain and the fallacies they draw from each other.
Jesse, who is in charge of the roastery’s brand, wants to be seen as a new-wave feminist man, but sometimes lets stupid frogs out of his mouth that he has to correct.
Olivia tries to present herself as an expert at the roastery, but she doesn’t always understand what is being talked about and doesn’t know the vocabulary related to the industry. He also answers questions asked by others at will.
However, the viewer sees Olivia in “the emperor’s new clothes” and knows that there are no clothes.
“The play asks whether we are only interested in the images with which we sell ourselves or a product. Are good stories more interesting than the truth?” Pesonen says.
Pesonen says that he and the working group have thought a lot about what is laughed at at the roastery, what is reinforced with laughter and what is allowed to be laughed at.
The tough demands of working lifePaahtimo highlights the new demands of working life.
Work and leisure are increasingly intermingled. Emails are written outside of working hours, and you should always be able to answer the phone. Those who do best in working life are those who dedicate themselves to their work.
In the roastery, this commitment is already reflected in the fact that none of the characters have children or a family of their own. “This highlights how sad it is that nowadays you have to be ready to commit to your employer 24/7,” Pesonen says.
So what kind of qualities are needed to succeed? What do we value? Who will stay in the game and who will drop out?
Uneducated, Olivia has a lot of skills that the other characters lack.
He masters modern technology, while Pepe, the boss of the roastery, does not even know how to use a smartphone. Pepe also longs for the past and misses his former secretary, who made coffee and took care of Pepe’s affairs.
In the play, you can read the confusion about what happens when young, educated people with good self-esteem come along, know their own worth and want more from working life than their predecessors.
“We have to accept that the young generation is more self-aware, and they don’t immediately agree to be apprentices, but also teach themselves,” Pesonen says. “Everyone should be able to look in the mirror and apologize if they make mistakes. You should not only look critically at the truth, but also at yourself.”
The roastery emphasizes how important social and presentation skills are today. Some people are liked because they inspire confidence, even if it has nothing to do with skills. Being extroverted is an advantage in working life.
Olivia is socially intelligent and creative. She plays the role of her sister against the expectations of others, but she has a charisma in her personality that others fall in love with. She is quick to draw conclusions about other people, while for Anni, being with people is more complicated. He is not able to express himself in the way he would like.
“Still, I wouldn’t want to think that people who can’t express themselves in social interaction are left in the shadows,” Pesonen says.
“I hope that there will continue to be room for introversion, incompleteness, criticism, reflection and consideration for others, even though the goal of success is to achieve a perfect outcome.”
Text: Ida Henritius