Review: Tahto

A breathtaking depiction of the madness of sports

What does it take to train to become a top athlete? What must be left behind,
If you try to leap to the highest podium?

Helsinki City Theatre’s play Tahto tells the story of skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. Saarinen, who was put on skis as a toddler, ended his skiing career last spring after twenty years of hard work. Aina Bergroth has written the play as a conscientious toiler of Aino-Kaisa (Sanna-June Hyde), whose self-confidence does not grow even when the trophy cabinet is full.
For those who have followed the success of Finnish skiing heroes more closely, Tahto offers a journey of memories to the biggest disappointments and the most joyful victories. Even a person who is not initiated into the sport cannot
feeling like an outsider, because the play does not tell the story of just one skier, but
something bigger.
Will reflects on the limits of man and life. Where does devotion turn into selfishness and irrationality? Who has the right to dedicate their life to one thing?
Nowadays, even amateurs abuse their bodies with training at the level of top athletes.
And the love-madness division is not limited to sports. I’m sure quite a few pen nipers, painters and musicians have had to explain why they are not ready to abandon their passion and move on to so-called real jobs.
Tahto is a beautifully visual and breathtakingly sporty play. With the exception of a few slightly detached musical scenes, it is a coherent whole that leaves the brain racing with big questions.