Review: Syntipukki

The scapegoat takes place in a large department store, where it is decided to hire a person just to bark and take all the blame, regardless of whether he is guilty of them or not. This makes it seem to the customer that mistakes are addressed quickly and severely. But this time, the plot is exceptionally in a completely secondary position when assessing the entertaining nature of the performance.

Director Pentti Kotkaniemi has decided to bring a new look to Agapetus’ old play by drawing lots for the roles at the beginning of each performance. So the actors don’t have to learn just one role, they have to master all seven. And to make it not too simple, the roles are switched twice more during the evening, so one actor plays three different characters in each performance. One of the actors is always in the role of a whisperer, assisting in forgotten lines and interrupting the show if the act on stage goes against the script. Some of the “mistakes” seemed to be clearly scripted and some happened quite genuinely. Since anyone can have to play any character, gender roles have also been thrown into the scrap heap at the same time. Men can play female roles and vice versa. And even today, it seems that humor can be created just by a man wearing a dress.

The cast consisted of two veterans (Santeri Kinnunen and Jouko Klemettilä) and six students from the Theatre Academy (Alex Anton, Joel Hirvonen, Emil Kihlström, Katriina Sinisalo, Asta Sveholm, Nenna Tyni). It was interesting to see how different actors approached and performed the same character during one evening. And did the experience bring any added value compared to the enthusiasm of youth? With the change of actor, the character could gain some completely new levels or lose them. To get a good result, the right casting is essential, because already during these changes, you could see how not all the roles suited everyone, while in some others the actor felt at home. The veterans performed their roles more confidently, and especially Jouko Klemettilä was on fire in these roles that now hit him, making three great and different characters. Of the young people, Joel Hirvonen was the most memorable.

I don’t know how nervous the actors were about the performance, but on stage it seemed that the going was very relaxed. This was probably due to the play’s exceptional approach, which did not take itself quite as seriously as a traditional theatrical performance. Mistakes were also allowed this time, even desired, as they gave the audience more moments of laughter. It might have been good to see the performance right at the beginning, when there were fewer performances and there was no time to get into a routine. Now the whole thing was fresh and genuine.

The scapegoat was a very pleasant, fresh and slightly different theatre experience.