{"id":218,"date":"2017-10-14T17:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T17:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/16\/?p=218"},"modified":"2022-02-28T21:05:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T21:05:11","slug":"the-trees-will-remain-we-wont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/16\/the-trees-will-remain-we-wont\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trees Will Remain; We Won\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matti Linnavuori*<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Koivu ja T\u00e4hti<\/em> (The Birch and the Star<\/em>), by Pirkko Saisio. Directed by Laura J\u00e4ntti. Scenography by Kati Lukka. Costumes by Tarja Simone. Lighting design by Morten Reinan. Sound design by Raine Ahonen and Esko Mattila. Premiere on the main stage of the Finnish National Theatre, 13 September, 2017.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Finland celebrates one hundred years as an independent state. The Finnish National Theatre commissioned a new play from Pirkko Saisio to mark the anniversary. The result is called Koivu ja T\u00e4hti<\/em> (The Birch and the Star<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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The author, Pirkko Saisio. Photo by Tuomo Manninen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even without the springboard of the anniversary, Finnish theatre seems obsessed with its attempts to describe and define our national identity. National identity on stage outnumbers any other topic. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, amidst the European fashion of establishing nationalisms all over the continent, this slogan emerged: \u201dWe are no longer Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, therefore let us be Finns.\u201d Very well, but what exactly does it mean to be Finns?<\/p>\n

In Saisio\u2019s view, the ferryman is taking Finns to the Underworld, but Finns are too busy declaring their visions of Finnishness to notice that they are just seconds away from perishing, from becoming extinct. \u201dIs this Finland?\u201d The ferryman answers in a flat voice, uninterested.<\/p>\n

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The ferryman (Heikki Pitk\u00e4nen, left) taking Finns upstream. The warming climate has changed the polar bear\u2019s (Riku Nieminen)
fur into plastic. Photo by Stefan Bremer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The author and journalist, Zachris Topelius (1818-98), who wrote in Swedish, launched patriotism with his children\u2019s tale, The Birch and the Star<\/em>, in the 1860s. It is based on Topelius\u2019 family history: one of his ancestors was kidnapped by Russian soldiers and sold to a wealthy owner in St Petersburg. The boy chose to leave the good life behind and escaped. His path is guided by a memory of a star that shines through the branches of a birch tree next to his parents\u2019 cottage.<\/p>\n

As an aside, let me point out a similarity to a much later story; namely, that of Edouard Kochergin. It took little Edouard six years to get back to his home in Leningrad from Siberia, where Stalin\u2019s persecution had stationed him. Kochergin later became the scenographer of Gorky \/ Tovstonogov Theatre in Leningrad; his book is entitled Christened with Crosses <\/em>(2011).<\/p>\n

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Jukka Puotila (left) and Tiina Weckstr\u00f6m as brother and sister orienteering through Finland\u2019s history. Photo by Stefan Bremer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saisio takes Topelius\u2019 little boy Kristoffer (Jukka Puotila) and his sister Hagar (Tiina Weckstr\u00f6m) through major turning-points in Finnish history up to the near future, when the siblings have invited their friends to have fun for a day in the ancient Topelian cottage, now turned into a holiday retreat. The first hour and twenty minutes before the intermission of Laura J\u00e4ntti\u2019s direction is spent laying the foundation, and that is far too long. The friends are all chatterboxes: one is infatuated with all the various cheeses she has brought along, one quips a film quote to contradict everything the others may say.<\/p>\n

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Kati Lukka\u2019s set: the cottage in the woods. Photo by Stefan Bremer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the second half, the performance finally starts addressing issues it is actually interested in. In a newspaper interview, Saisio confessed to canvassing her friends on social media which themes she should choose for the play. Biographies of unsung female heroes from history were often put forward, but Saisio declined, saying that the result would be predetermined, and Saisio prefers to surprise. For a Finnish mind, she handles ambiguity and uncertainty quite well. In Koivu ja T\u00e4hti<\/em>, she shows, as far as I can understand, that the so-called opposites in our conception of history and identity are no simple dichotomies; rather, the echo to each and every issue resounds from myriad directions. There is not one counterargument but several. It is impossible to piece them together into a unity.<\/p>\n

This shows in the structure of the play, too. It is episodic, almost anecdotal, rather than driven by plot or psychology. I am not sure whether this is a result of ambitious dramatic thinking\u2014Saisio served as Professor of dramaturgy at the Theatre Academy from 1997 to 2001\u2014or just a heap of material crammed into three hours.<\/p>\n

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Kristoffer (Jukka Puotila) in the forest. Photo by Stefan Bremer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n