Review: Taju
On the Pengerkatu stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, there is a new play Taju, which tells the story of the writing process of Tyko Sallinen’s daughter Taju’s last book, Father and I . Taju wants to write the truth about her father, but the story turns into a new childhood with a happy family. Taju is written by Liisa Urpelainen and directed by Laura Jäntti. I got excited about the play at the opening of the autumn season of the Helsinki City Theatre, so I had to see it.
Taju Sallinen’s (Ursula Salo) pen name is Irja Salla , just so that her father, Tyko Sallinen (Santeri Kinnunen), wouldn’t be able to make fun of his daughter’s works. Now, however, his father has died and Taju wants to free himself from childhood traumas by writing the truth about his father. In a mental hospital, there is time to write, but at the same time, the stages of childhood and the life already lived must be revisited. Sometimes Taju is at the height of her happiness, but other times despair and anxiety are about to knock her to the ground completely.
Ursula Salo has thrown herself into her role as Taju to the fullest. Strong empathy and a spectrum of emotions from all sides throughout the play. Especially the scene in which Salo engages in a dialogue as two personalities, herself and her mother Helmi Vartiainen, was very intense and incredible. I can almost swear that my mouth fell open just staring at Salo, whose emotions changed from one extreme to the other in a second. Wild! I also liked how Salo was able to play a small child with his facial expressions and gestures naturally.
Taju’s cast is very balanced. Although Ursula Salo is on stage throughout the play, her strong performance does not hide the performances of the other actors. Santeri Kinnunen is passionately fierce as Taju’s artist father, Tyko. Kinnunen’s violent strokes on stage make the viewer wonder if there would have been a bit of madness in Tyko as well. At least the temper tantrums and the reproaches of his wife Helmi (Iida Kuningas) gave the man a slightly crazy picture. Iida Kuningas, on the other hand, smoothly switches from the role of mother and wife to a nurse and sometimes to a German whore. Antti Lang and Rauno Ahonenalso have many roles in the play. Lang was quite endearing in his roles, where he tried to get Taju for himself. Rauno Ahonen, on the other hand, managed to make us laugh as a cabaret performer. Not to be forgotten is the musician Eero Ojanen, who played music on stage throughout the play. The man’s wigs or headgear just change on the fly and the musician had a new role ready again.
Laura Jäntti has done a great job as a director. The pieces have fallen into place and the audience can only throw themselves into the play. Special thanks must be given to Antti Mattila, whose work is the set design. The living wall of blood was a startling sight that I almost didn’t understand at first. I imagined that Tyko’s painting had been replaced by a bomb attack, which it was, but when I saw the trails of blood flowing, I was amazed. A truly impressive sight. Applause!
Consciousness moves alternately in different eras. From Taju’s childhood, we move almost unnoticed to the middle of the war to Nazi Germany and from there to the Nikkilä mental hospital. The transitions have been made with skill. The viewer keeps up with the flow of the story well, and the many different eras do not make the play confusing. In Germany, Taju’s life has a cabaret vibe to it, which brings comedy to an otherwise tough subject matter. In my opinion, the Pengerkatu stage is a great venue for such an intense performance, where the audience and the actors are very close to each other and the atmosphere is almost palpable. I also admired the fact that when I saw the performance, it was only two days after the premiere and the performance was really ready. How much better can the performance get from this?
Taju aroused my interest in reading Irja Salla’s book Father and I, because I want to know how polished a picture Taju Sallinen has written of her relationship with her father, which has actually been said to be something other than smoothed out. So it’s time to turn to the library again.
In my opinion, Taju , performed by the Helsinki City Theatre, is clearly aimed at adults. Children may not understand the play, and I don’t even recommend the play to children, because some of the scenes were quite powerful. However, Taju is a play that is definitely worth seeing, because it is simply really good and well executed.
Taju premiered on the Pengerkatu stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 10 November 2016.
Cast: Rauno Ahonen, Santeri Kinnunen, Iida Kuningas, Antti Lang, Ursula Salo and musician Eero Ojanen.
Director: Laura Jäntti
Set design: Antti Mattila
Costumes: Sari Salmela
Lighting design: William Iles
Sound design: Mauri Siirala
Camouflage and hairstyles: Tuula Kuittinen