Review: Isät ja pojat

Life refuses to be a prisoner of theory

The City Theatre’s new production of Brian Friel’s Fathers and Sons is charming to watch: small gestures talk about the repetitive arrangement between generations.
In Ivan Turgenev’s novel Fathers and Sons , published in 1862, on which the play is based, old Russia begins to crack. The need for change is great, but the habit of the old is strong. The book attracted so much criticism that the author had to move abroad.

Young students Arkadi (Sami Hokkanen) and Jevgeni (Kari-Pekka Toivonen) arrive at Arkadi’s homestead to spend the summer. They immediately make it clear that they are the harbingers of the new world as nihilists. First, however, everything old must be torn down to see if anything in the new world is even suitable as a stepping stone for young gentlemen. Away with idle arts and education, values and ideals. A revolutionary does not even have to be polite: the outstretched hand is not grasped and the coat is thrown over the servant’s eyes. The hospitality of the house is good enough and its women are good enough for the gentlemen’s strike list. “It’s very familiar with the prematures. I am also familiar with the use of power, which goes smoothly from the trumpets of truth. The people’s opinions and wishes are not asked. For Yevgeny, real peasants are actually hateful creatures.

Arkady’s father Nikolai (Kari Heiskanen) and Jevgen’s parents Vasili and Arina (Seppo Maijala and Heidi Herala) are as parents still tend to be: they rejoice in their children, wonder about the truths offered, hide insults, make sure that the boy gets food and if he has a girlfriend.

Young men’s theories are put to the test when emotions come into play. Anna (Minna Suuronen) is a noble and realistic young widow who confuses Jevgen’s head. Arkadi meets his fate alongside Anna’s sister, the energetic Katja (Merja Pietilä), and his father Nikolai takes himself under the arm of the young Fenitshka (Sanna Majuri), who has also given birth to a child.

Fathers and sons must be touched as they bring to the stage issues beyond the control of any young reformer: faith, sickness, poverty, death, love, and the tenacious tendency of the human mind to cling to the old. The difficulty of showing emotions is also well highlighted. There are unfortunately many paths in life that you want to take but don’t get the opportunity to. All you have to do is adapt to the inevitable. Life goes on and on and on, but not always according to theories.

Both fathers and sons have strength and self-esteem, and throughout the play, there is a gentle wistful compassion for the many twists and turns of life.