{"id":248,"date":"2021-05-05T16:24:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/?p=248"},"modified":"2021-11-21T20:56:38","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T20:56:38","slug":"weighing-everyday-adventure-against-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/weighing-everyday-adventure-against-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Weighing Everyday Adventure against Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Vi \u00e4r bara m\u00e4nskor<\/em> (We Are Only Human<\/em>), written and directed by Joakim Groth. Set by Erik Salvesen. Costumes by Karoliina Koiso-Kanttila. Lighting by Tom Kumlin. Sound by Anton Lindblom. Makeup and hair by Titta Stor. Stage premiere: 4 March 2020 at Svenska Teatern in Helsinki, Finland. Televised version premiere by YLE (the Finnish Broadcasting Company), 5 April 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did my father Gunnar shoot himself on a park bench in 1971? What had happened to him and to my mother Maria before they became a couple?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The actor Riko Eklundh (right) takes on the role of the playwright-director Joakim Groth. Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Those thoughts are recreated as dialogue in Joakim Groth\u2019s play Vi \u00e4r bara m\u00e4nskor<\/em> (We Are Only Human<\/em>) at the national Swedish Theatre in Helsinki, Finland. The character asking those questions is called Joakim Groth, and the playwright-director actually stands on the stage for the first few minutes, directing as if it were the play\u2019s first rehearsal, before Mr Groth gives his jacket to the actor Riko Eklundh, who then takes on the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
All the neighbourhood kids gather to watch the building super\u2019s television (Max Forsman, background). The actors (L-R): Simon H\u00e4ger, Anna Hultin, Patrick Henriksen, Dennis Nylund, Marika Parkkom\u00e4ki, Sophia Heikkil\u00e4. Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In this autobiographical play, there is not much stage action: each protagonist gets to enjoy a dance. Neither are there monologues, in which a character would have an opportunity to justify, defend or understand themself. In Groth\u2019s dramatic universe, people employ dialogue\u2014to misunderstand each other. In the very first scene, Groth sets a further condition on what dialogue can and cannot accomplish: if you want to reach someone, being right is not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groth’s career began in the same vein. His unforgettable breakthrough came with Waiting for Godot<\/em> in 1985, which he directed for students of the Theatre Academy; his brother Marcus Groth was an actor in it. It was a production of leisurely desperation. Performed in the open air in Sweden during the Nordic theatre academies\u2019 festival, it left everyone gasping for air and not simply because of the scorching Gothenburg sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Maria (Nina Hukkinen) and Gunnar (Simon H\u00e4ger) at an early stage in their relationship. Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Joakim Groth (born 1953 in Stockholm, Sweden) works in Swedish, one of the official languages in Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In We Are Only Human<\/em>, the little brother Marcus is vaguely present, but this is Joakim\u2019s recreation, Joakim\u2019s memory, Joakim\u2019s interpretation. At the time of his father\u2019s suicide, he was eighteen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Father (Niklas \u00c5kerfelt) is far from happy with Joakim the teenager (Dennis Nylund). Mother (Nina Hukkinen) mediates. Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Joakim (Riko Eklundh) looms in the background in scenes in which his parents\u2019 lives are acted out. The television version, with the medium\u2019s fondness for close-ups, misses some of this: Joakim is always present, and in a way he is a product of these goings-on, but he cannot interfere, except of course that\u2014even though based on facts\u2014everything we see is a product of his imagination. The adult playwright watches himself as an eight-year old and as a clumsy teenager (Dennis Nylund in both roles), but the director Groth generously grants time-travelling vantage points to other characters, too; we get to see the father\u2019s early girlfriend, Cerle, as young (Sophia Heikkil\u00e4) and old (Marika Parkkom\u00e4ki) side by side. Ages interact, once the characters come to realize that we are only human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The older Cerle (Marika Parkkom\u00e4ki in the middle) remembers how during the war she (Sophia Heikkil\u00e4) was wooed by Gunnar (Simon H\u00e4ger). Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The father as a young man is played by Simon H\u00e4ger, and the older Gunnar by Niklas \u00c5kerfelt, whereas Nina Hukkinen plays the mother Maria at all ages. This is, of course, contrary to how sex is conventionally represented. Every actor, including the narrator-interviewer Joakim, plays several roles, with the support of clever costume changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A dance party with the German army in northern Finland. The couple in the middle is Gunnar (Simon H\u00e4ger) and Cerle (Sophia Heikkil\u00e4). Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Grandfather Groth had emigrated from Germany, and Gunnar as a German citizen has to join the German army in 1943; he witnesses the allied mass bombings of Hamburg. Later, he is stationed in northern Finland, where he deserts the Wehrmacht for Sweden. In short, prime material for cancel culture and for colonizing the dead as vehicles to proclaim popular views of today; but wouldn\u2019t that be a monologue and thus very un-Grothian? We Are Only Human<\/em> is an attempt to understand bygone loved ones as they were, and this means leaving historical irony in the auditorium instead of parading it on the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A dance party in a Finnish coastal town. The couple in the foreground is Maria (Nina Hukkinen) with her German boyfriend Horst (Patrick Henriksen). Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

During the Second World War, the mother, Maria, is a young woman in a coastal town. She becomes romantically involved with a German officer (Patrick Henriksen) before visiting her old friend Cerle, who had started as Gunnar\u2019s secretary and is now his common law partner. Without explanation or visible guilty conscience Gunnar leaves his partner for Maria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria conceals her cancer from the family. She dies two years before Gunnar. But the performance does not end with death. There is a quiet family evening; no one has anything special to do. The same scene took place early on in the production, and its repetition at the very end gives weight to the parents\u2019 joint realization: everyday family life is an adventure, if one perceives it as such. A tragic death does not imply that one\u2019s whole life was a tragedy. Is this resignation, or a profound appreciation of human limits?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Joakim\u2019s bunch of friends at a dance lesson in the late 1960s. The adult Joakim (Riko Eklundh) sits omnipresent but not participating. Photo: Cata Portin\/Svenska Teatern<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There is an unadorned beauty in Groth\u2019s work. If the above failed to convince you of its merit, take a look at some of his earlier productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In En teaterkritikers d\u00f6d<\/em> (Death of a Theatre Critic<\/em>, 2008), a director has had a bad review. He bursts into the critic\u2019s home and at gunpoint demands a rewrite because the critic \u201cchose to ignore the director\u2019s interpretation of the play.\u201d The critic dies, somewhat accidentally, but the director is sent to prison, where his cellmate murders him in order to become famous. My interpretation is that Groth\u2019s play mourns the arrogance and indifference of humans toward one another, even if and when their intentions are good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intermezzo p\u00e5 Johannis<\/em> (Intermezzo at Johannis Manor<\/em>, 2002) takes place in 1899, when Russia is intensifying her grip on the empire\u2019s remote corner, namely Finland. The guests and hosts at the manor are Chekhovian and Tolstoyan. At the time, I wrote: just as with Chekhov, a character\u2019s inner life is not a straight line, where concealing one end would render the other end visible, but a winding path of duty, hope of happiness, awareness of one\u2019s position in time. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*<\/a>Matti Linnavuori\u00a0<\/strong>wrote theatre criticism between 1978 and 2013 for various newspapers and weeklies in his native Finland. In 1985, he worked for the BBC World Service in London. Since 1998, he has presented papers at numerous IATC events. In the 2000s, he wrote for Teatra Vestnesis in Latvia. Since 1993, he has written and directed several radio plays for YLE the Finnish Broadcasting Company. His latest stage play,\u00a0Ta mig till er ledare<\/em>\u00a0(Take me to your leader<\/em>, 2016), ran at Lilla teatern in Helsinki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2021 Matti Linnavuori
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/PER-vibara1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/creating-in-between-times-and-identities-expressions-of-contemporary-theatre-in-guatemala\/","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":0},"title":"Creating In-between Times and Identities: Expressions of Contemporary Theatre in Guatemala","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Regina Solis Miranda* and Luis Antonio Morales Rodr\u00edguez** Abstract Theatricality in contemporary Guatemala has its own poetics shaped by a tense interaction of multiple identities in a context defined by enforced colonial logic. By recognizing Mayan and Ladino\/mestizo theatrical trends, we can explore alternative ways of thinking that shape contemporary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National Reports"","block_context":{"text":"National Reports","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/national-reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":211,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/drive-in-theatre-the-world-at-oaklands-beaux-arts-train-station\/","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":1},"title":"Drive-In Theatre: The World at Oakland\u2019s Beaux-Arts Train Station","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Lissa Tyler Renaud* Binding Ties: The\u00a016th\u00a0Street\u00a0Station. Created by\u00a0Stephanie Anne Johnson\u00a0with\u00a0Michael Copeland Sydnor. Premiere: 1991; remount: 12 February 2021, Oakland Theatre Project. Lighting and projections design: Stephanie Anne Johnson. Sound score: Kevin Myric. Site-specific: 16th Street Railway Station, Oakland, California. There it was!\u2014the legendary South Pacific train, pulled into the stunning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Performance Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/3.-PER-beaux-interior.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/3.-PER-beaux-interior.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/3.-PER-beaux-interior.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/3.-PER-beaux-interior.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":222,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/the-ritual-of-killing-fascists-theatre-and-sacrifice\/","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":2},"title":"The Ritual of Killing Fascists: Theatre and Sacrifice","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Rui Pina Coelho* Catarina e a Beleza de Matar Fascistas (Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists), written and directed by Tiago Rodrigues, with Ant\u00f3nio Fonseca, Beatriz Maia, Isabel Abreu, Marco Mendon\u00e7a, Pedro Gil, Romeu Costa, Rui M. Silva, Sara Barros Leit\u00e3o. National Theatre D.Maria II, Premiere: Centro Cultural de\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Performance Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Catarina-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Catarina-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Catarina-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Catarina-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":752,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/destabilizing-impersonation-cleaving-gender-non-conformity-akshayambara-and-lady-anandi\/","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":3},"title":"Destabilizing Impersonation, Cleaving Gender Non-conformity: Akshayambara and Lady Anandi","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"June 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Supraja R* Abstract This article offers an analysis of two theatrical productions that have graced the proscenium stage in India by utilizing an intersectional axis privileging gender nonconformity. It situates the destabilization of the category of impersonation, and the consequences that such a cleaving in theatricality effects on the public\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Special Topic"","block_context":{"text":"Special Topic","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/special-topic\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image16-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image16-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image16-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image16-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":207,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/a-chronicle-of-chinas-pandemic-theatre-the-word-from-nine-theatre-artists\/","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":4},"title":"A Chronicle of China\u2019s Pandemic Theatre: The Word from Nine Theatre Artists","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lissa Tyler Renaud* Introduction The mainstream media's virus-centered narrative about China swept the world, but didn't include the story I wanted to hear: about China's theatre. I began writing to colleagues connected in some capacity to the yearly Wuzhen Theatre Festival\u2014many of whom are among the most influential figures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Interviews"","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":194,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/le-metteur-en-scene-face-au-defi-de-lexil\/","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":5},"title":"Le metteur en sc\u00e8ne face au d\u00e9fi de l\u2019exil","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"April 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Georges Banu* R\u00e9sum\u00e9 L\u2019exil du metteur en sc\u00e8ne, impos\u00e9 ou volontaire, est le plus souvent effectu\u00e9 sous l\u2019impact d\u2019un pouvoir totalitaire. 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