Review and Photos: HAMLET reflects and breathes without an effort at the Turku City Theatre

Spoilers.

We come to the theatre, to the auditorium. The setting itself sets the focus to us: there's a mirror at the back of the wall and the stage comes towards us, onto us. The floors are reflecting too. It gives a "shaking of a finger" -atmosphere in the most positive way.

Clang! And the show is at hand.

Hamlet comes on stage, escorted by dazzling led lights. He stands for a while in front of the mirror, as if stating that he's taking our place, he's representing us now. He's in an old costume, marches onwards. The music is wonderful, we hold and watch. The timing is extremely honed, even as simple thing as Hamlet putting his feet on the platform and how the music stops and lights change... So intensely capturing and well paced!

Some kind of transformation is happening.

Hamlet is aware of us staring. He smirks. Smirks as the music in the background speaks in dark tones. Oh, the conflict of life.

YES, see the transformation! We are getting a MODERNISED version, he brings us to this time. Very good.

I had the honor to go and see Paavo Westerberg's direction Hamlet at the Turku City theatre during the daytime on 9th of March. It was the third Westerberg's direction I saw, others including The Three Sisters I recently reviewed and the Possible World's from years ago. I have to admit that this was the piece from him that made the biggest impact to me. Of course the fact that I knew the text beforehand and that its themes concerning death and life, madness, love and hate are big topics in my personal life currently really heightened the experience.

I cried with Hamlet. I laughed with him. He was me.

Overall the show is extremely well paced. In my head there's a weird thing, a somewhat pre-thinking that's automatic and I can't help it: while watching a show I get the gut feeling of what could happen next, or let's say what should happen next, what I'd love to happen next. It's a very abstract thing and so are the feelings, but if those feelings and longings are fulfilled, oh do I get sucked into the show! And if not, the guts think "oh, I see... What did I have for lunch, hm?".

This show definitely offered moments of fulfilment of those gut-longings!

Westerberg knows how to fill space and time just at the right time so that nothing leaves hanging. In big scenes (the golfing-scene) as in small details (Hamlet and their friends are hearing something and Hamlet turns around in a full circle, his friends just in a half one). The best scene in terms of timings was the one in the car: they get bubblegum, the seat is put down, back up, glancing, soft delivering of lines, atmosphere. Where's your father? Haha. It was live-bringing and brilliant! Only that the music should have stopped a little earlier after founding of the letters, I think. Yes, I'm really pedantic what it comes to aesthetics. Highly sensitive. Just cast stones if you like.

The absolutely best deliverers in terms of Shakespearean language were definitely Eero Aho, Markus Järvenpää and Jussi Nikkilä. Eero Aho didn't waver in his strongness; even though you wouldn't have had the attention to listen to every word he said, you in spite of it understood EVERY WORD. And his prayer-monologue-- oh my God, dude! Markus Järvenpää made a good first impression too and stayed stable in all of his scenes. The biggest love towards the text shone from Jussi Nikkilä and no wonder, he took a Shakespeare course in LAMDA. At first I wasn't somehow that impressed as he seemed to paint the words rather than speak from the heart, but his character and output got better overtime and after the scene with the Danish actors it somehow got into a whole new level. At his best he was definitely in the scene with the betraying friends where he doubted them: he was extremely present. The atmosphere was on point, the scene was very touching and made me totally ceased and focused to the happenings. Really, Nikkilä, you made it in that scene! It'll keep on living and inspiring me in my head as a performer and truth seeker. AND THE HELLO MR. POLE -MOMENT WILL GIVE ME A SMILE TILL A LONG TIME. I have that hilarious cluster of lines as my Whatsapp-status, thank you very much.

There were just a few moments I didn't enjoy that much. The acting of the guards wasn't so believable in the beginning, though in the audio it was very good. On stage in an acted fear the text is too overly emphasized, there was not believable growing into the emotion and only from time to time you were able to hear that the actors really understood and thought of what they said. And overall I didn't personally enjoy the way the ghost of the King was carried out. It was cornish. Also when Ophelia came to the stage for the first time laughing, the laugh itself was a little forced. Any actor would know that believable laughing can be a challenge. Just one breath of laugh would have been enough, smiling and then mimed laughing in the end so we could have focused more on the beautiful physical and musical elements of the scene. The laugh would have lived in the back of our minds easily. When Hamlet is hiding-- thrusting Polonius, the music at the background had the same beginning note as in the Imperial March introduced earlier, so just a little wider reference to it would have embraced my gut-longings even better! Towards the end the clang's started to be a little irritating.

The show loved to make us jump on our seats.

At the beginning I had a little hard time to get into the airy and light voice of Nikkilä's Hamlet, but as I accepted it and grasped that gosh, he, Hamlet, actually is a young guy, it only got better. In my eyes Nikkilä's Hamlet could have been as young as 14, really. Brilliant!

There are great little moments and details-- and in this particular piece some purposeful contradictions as well-- as there usually is in Westerberg's directions: A wedding "cake" into the sinful fleshness, oh, how impure; Hamlet being on his phone and Claudius asking him to put it away, been there-- it totally woke up the audience to a more heightened state; The siblings both have braids, very pretty; The pounding of the techno-music replaces the horns that are spoken about; The ghost of the King referred as a shadow is built of lights after all; Various distinctive details aren't there just once as the Lidl-bag adventures throughout the show; We get to hear charming Danish in a performance that's based in Denmark; Delicious film-references bring absurdness and take us to our age; Rough things are as if a mere amusement, as the swords of death are brought up in a golf bag... Just to name the best bits!

The text is twisted and spiced up geniusly for us for example in Ophelia's case as the seemingly good and dappered girl's lines of sweetness and holy obedience are given an ironic deliverance. Very good! Very real, well done Pia Andersson!

The music composed by Sanna Salmenkallio is at its best when Hamlet first faces the passed King. I also loved the delicate cellos in the "stealing of the crown" -scene.

The costume design by Tuomas Lampinen and the mask designer Minna Pilvinen definitely hit their marks, especially in Hamlet's case and in the scene where his looks are completely changed into a perm wig and glasses, topped up with a huge jacket that hid him beneath.

During the intermission the show climbed to a meta-state as in the intermission area posters of the coming "movie" inside the performance are put out. The overall, filmed atmosphere before the premiere is very lovely too and it totally breaks the fourth wall in a brand new way as we can see the actors in the room we ourselves stood just a few minutes ago!

I was a little hesitant about the execution of the movie scene but was happily surprised! Things mentioned earlier are repeated and Claudius breaths in the same rhythm as the baddie in the movie. He's highlighted with a powerful stream of light, as if the begotten King would be glaring at his regret from above. Wowee!

By the way, take along your sunglasses. I luckily had my own.

At the rodeo scene the eroticism emphasizes the craftiness of the characters and the manipulation skills of Claudius. The rodeo starts rolling harder, the music comes on loud and the club-like lights beam: now we're totally on the dark side!

Kimmo Rasila is distinctively great as a supporting character, especially in the elevator scene.

And as you would know from Shakespeare, in the end everyone dies. The dying of the characters itself is performed very neatly and distinctively, just go see it for yourself!

"Tell onwards the reasons that brought to this moment" and I understand that the endings of things is laid nakedly in the beginning itself. Mind blown!

... But can someone please explain the reasons that brought me to this moment of finishing this hella long review?

Article: Rosanna Liuski
Photos: Otto-Ville Väätäinen

Did you enjoy this article? All feedback welcomed in Finnish or English to:
liuski.broadwayworldfinland@gmail.com

Text: William Shakespeare
Translation: Eeva-Liisa Manner

Director: Paavo Westerberg
Fighting choreos: Oula Kitti
Set design: Markus Tsokkinen
Costume design: Tuomas Lampinen
Mask design: Minna Pilvinen
Lighting and video design: Ville Seppänen
Composer: Sanna Salmenkallio
Sound designers: Iiro Laakso and Sanna Salmenkallio

On Stage:

Eero Aho (Claudius), Pia Andersson (Ophelia), Markus Järvenpää (Laertes), Jussi Nikkilä (Hamlet), Carl-Kristian Rundman (Polonius), Severi Saarinen (Horatio), Esko Salminen (on video, the King), Kirsi Tarvainen (Getrude) also with Markus Ilkka Uolevi, Jonas Saari, Minna Hämäläinen, Ella Lahdenmäki and Kimmo Rasila.

Hamlet arvostelu Turun Kaupunginteatteri