Review: Kuka tappoi bambin?

Who killed Bambi, the memory traces of evil

There is an adult party in the hall of a wealthy detached house in a small town, but a gang rape planned by the family’s son Nathan takes place in the basement. Monika Fagerholm’s work Who Killed Bambi? (2019) is intertwined with this event, which Pipsa Lonka has dramatised into a dense, intermittent performance. Its two times run side by side, revealing signs of violence in its bearers. The title of the play has been followed by the subtitle Can evil be forgotten? It describes the whole thing succinctly.

A performance is tied to the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, in which the crime returns to the fore after years when one of the participants announces that he intends to make a film about it. The 26-year-old Gusten has not been able to forget what happened anyway, and the new turn of events makes him in even more pain. He disciplines himself by increasing the number and intensity of his runs and does his work as a real estate agent more and more closely.

In her relationships with women, Gusten lives in the tangles of the past and the present, she does not know how to detach but also does not commit. Everything he does is determined by the one event in which he has reluctantly participated, which for him has meant the death of innocence. Pyry Nikkilä is the harrowingly broken Gusten as an adult, and Jaakko Hutchings is the fragile 16-year-old Gusten. The girlfriends are played by Misa Lommi and Aksinja Lommi.

On the other hand, Nathan (Justus Pienmunne) seems to have forgotten what happened. He downplays the matter and continues his upper-class life partying and skiing in the Alps. On the other hand, you can’t peek under the surface, as its armor is tough. Pienmunne plays a spectacular role that shows her background as a dancer. Nathan seems to shuttle smoothly through life’s twists and turns.

The third friend Cosmo (Elias Keränen) works on the memory in his own way. He wants to make a film about what happened. Cosmo is ruthless and gets Gusten off track.

What about the parents? A picture is drawn of them that is not flattering. The entire performance begins with Gusten’s opera singer mother Angela, singing naked in her bathtub, which circles around the stage. The character has been made exuberant and comical in its dramatic exaggeration. Angela travels the world and returns home magnifying her achievements. She leaves her son in the care of Nathan’s family during the trips. Leena Rapola is a hilariously shameless artist who lives in her own world and only wakes up to serious questions when her son is convicted of a crime.

Nathan’s mother Annelise (Heidi Herala) has risen from a boarding school to the CEO of an international company and remembers to boast about her earnings as an omniscient. This mother is not crushed by judgments, but is ready to erase her son’s deeds. Herala tears up handsomely in his role. The father of the family (Kari Mattila) settles for the old “boys are boys” refrain. Thus, rape is still a crime that is viewed differently depending on the context.

Riikka Oksanen’s direction intersperses scenes nicely and builds them through strong physicality. The movement language of the young people is dominated on stage by a restless pulse that is at times looking for its release. The play makes the viewer think about their own relationship with the attitudes that are still alive and the growing violence among young people, which cannot be avoided in the news. The guidance does not delay or paint unnecessarily.

Janne Vasama’s set design, together with Kari Leppälä’s lighting, varies the stripped-down stage effectively. The protagonist’s mental landscape takes on its tones in the midst of landscape photographs and videos and neon tube squares glowing cold. The experience of watching the play is not the easiest, even though the crime itself is not shown. However, it is definitely rewarding.

Monika Fagerholm – Peppa Lonka: Who Killed Bambi? Translated by Laura Jänisniemi, dramatisation by Pipsa Lonka, director Riikka Oksanen, choreography by Justus Pienmunne, set design by Janne Vasama, costume design by Tiina Kaukanen, lighting design by Kari Leppälä, projections by Mika Haaranen, sound design by Eero Niemi, vocal consultation by Pia Komsi, improvised vocals by Leena Rapola, make-up design by Maija Sillanpää, dramaturg Henna Piirto. Premiere on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 31.8.2023.