Review: Hissvägraren

HISSVÄGRAREN – A SMALL BIG STORY

Bengt Ahlfors’ latest play at Hissvägraren Lilla Teatern, performed by Lasse Pöysti , is a polished diamond with edge, depth and luminosity. This has been to be expected from an expert in well-made play .

An old man lives in Töölö, on Caloniuksenkatu, on the seventh floor, and has lived all his life. An ordinary man from whom relatives, friends, former co-workers – and even a dog – have died or otherwise just happened to disappear. The only person to talk to is the gate lift of the old house, Enok (Kone). It is fitting for him to tell about his larger-than-life love for Grace Kelly, with whom he is fated to have the same birthday. And about a girl who has borrowed her name from another female icon, Diana. But as a substitute for real human contacts, the man only has a hoe visit to weddings and funerals.

The monologue does not give the man a name. Pöysti comes to the stage with a script. He complains about the difficulty of a long monologue for an actor of his age. Memory doesn’t work, you have to have a bottle with you. True or a play? The script reveals that it is a play. The story begins, but along the way, Ahlfors paces it with drops: the actor scrolls through the text, thinks about what a good pause is, whether the audience can keep up with the story.

The technology works in a surprising way. In “Falls” an old, tired man speaks directly to us, as himself. But that makes the man of fiction even more real. Alienation brings us closer together.

The image of a lonely man is formed by his memories. The ones that can’t be selected, and that won’t disappear no matter how much you want to. Childhood fears, shames, humiliations – life’s pain points; the birth and death of great hopes. The play gives a face to those quiet elderly people in the stairwell who have passed by as neighbors for years without saying hello, and whom no one misses.

Our elevator is Otis. I wonder if it has friends?