Review: MAKING OF LEA at KOM-theatre

Ironically on the Finnish
theatre and its birth.

Text and directing Juha Hurme. Set Design Matti Rasi, Costume Design Anne Kotola, Make-Up Leila Mäkynen, Lighting Design Tomi Suovankoski, Sound Design Jani Rapo, Music Petra Poutanen-Hurme. On Stage Paavo Kinnunen, Jarkko Lahti, Vilma Melasniemi, Sara Melleri, Juho Milonoff and Eeva Soivio.

Finally a title I don't have to translate.

I went to see Making of Lea to its premire on 15th of February 2019.

The audience was filled with theatre-fanatics and other thespians, thus it was a perfect one for the coming show.

Making of Lea is set at the end of 19th century Helsinki, Finland. During those times many languages were spoken and the play itself began with a long monologue in German. The actor Jarkko Lahti as Fredrich Everth fell for mannerism for a few minutes but after that the physique was much more flowing and good. After the monologue we hear Swedish too from other actors coming on stage, until we're introduced, in Finnish this time, to the translator machine, which was a good, riching and refreshing theatrical solution.

From early on I noticed that Eeva Soivio as Elisabeth Lindblad had a good, distinct presence I enjoyed. Paavo Kinnunen as Kaarlo Bergbom had an excellent gesturing that helped understanding the text. Also without the text it worked, for example "where's the hat?" mimicking scene he created with his accurate physique. He looks for his hat, he looks for his scarf, and finally is looking for the hope of Finnish theatre. It made everyone laugh.

The sound design by Jani Rapo is exquisite and rarely excellent. Little or big sound effects come just at the right time, for example to help the little mouse soft toy to come alive and crow's chirping to emphasize awkward silences. Or when the Lion's neck is cracked, ugh, I can still feel it!

The play knows where to pull the strings to make us laugh. Steffe with his ylioppilas hat on his eyes is hilarious and is done to the end as he bangs against the scenery prop. Also when Juho Milonoff as Aleksis curses the experimental German theatre and his back is towards the audience. That brings the perfect, comedic balance: a strong, open, angry voice and a stiff, bodily and facially hidden actor. Milonoff's Aleksis gets better towards the end of the show and the use of his voice is good throughout.

The audience got so used to the uplifting playfulness that when the actors informed to each other that now it's a pause the audience near me almost started to pick up their bags until they grasped that they weren't talking at us.
Talking about the lights of Tomi Suovankoski, especially above the audience, it really brought us to different situations, from an audience almost playing alongside with the actors to an actual audience who looks at the play from the dark in the KOM-theatre.

I fell in love with the scenes where they went through Aleksis Kivi's- or Kiwi's? haha- plays. The scene about the 7 brother was also good with its lights and the music by Petra Poutanen-Hurme. Also the scene about the Universe's Now was really thought-provoking.

At the beginning I thought that if the painted set board of Helsinki is like that throughout the play, it's certainly not such a sophisticated add, but I luckily got surprised because the seagull and the crow had changed places, and thus it was all thought out by the set designer Matti Rasi afterall. Jolly good!

The scene where Aleksis is making his leave, the part where was a silence before he took his steps, could have been just a few more seconds longer. The silence brought soft peace after all the hustling and circus we'd experienced, a moment to breathe. In that scene the music and sounds crept in just perfectly too.

And finally at the end of the play, the light bulb of the Finnish language is the final thing that lightens up the stage and the whole theatre.

All in all Making of Lea is an upbeat play that knows what it's doing and how to do it: the timings are good, the plot well-thought out and the show clearly made with a big heart to the people of theatre from the people of theatre. I can recommend this, especially to someone who knows the struggles of preparing a show, for that's the show at its core!

Article: Rosanna Liuski
Photos: Noora Geagea