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Unemployed, Drunk and Completely LostThe season´s new productions reveal the real Finnish life I went to see three different performances, which had a premiere this fall: Hamlet by Ryhmäteatteri, Unnecessary People by KOM –teatteri and Close calls and Helping Hands (also known as Comedy Blues) by Q -teatteri. All these plays have very much in common, despite of a fact that Hamlet has been written over a 400 years ago, and the other two are new plays. KOM –theater´s Unnecessary People deals with domestic violence , and the very common problem in almost all western countries: unemployment. A man loses his job and starts to feel useless, depressed. He doesn´t know any other way to release his feelings than violence. Another man is a teacher, who has in turn too much work and responsibilities, and he starts to spice up his life by cheating his wife with a young girl. All the people in this play are lost with themselves. No matter what the reasons are, everybody is unhappy and unable to deal with one´s negative feelings. They feel hopeless, useless and unnecessary. The dominating theme is also fear. A wife is afraid of her husband, a husband is afraid of himself and his own actions. The teacher is kind of afraid of the whole world. In Close Calls and Helping Hands people feel just as lost with theirselves. But if in Unnecessary People the characters were still trying to live a normal life, here they have reached the rock bottom. In this play we meet alcoholics and drop-outs who are struggling with mental problems. They are trying to find comfort from the religious choir, where they literally sing their troubles away. But is singing and Jesus enough to save oneself? In Mika Myllyaho´s version of Hamlet the main ideas are fear, revenge and anger. Mutual to the other plays is also an idea, that we are so small in this chaotic world, and the society is trying steal our identity and personality by making us just the parts of the machine. If one loses his job, like the man in Unnecessary People, he is no longer a part of the machine. That leads quickly to the situation that one feels nothing but a load to the society. Fear is a way to control people and the world. Today is full of things to be afraid of, like terrorism, war, disease, and different kind of environmental catastrophies. Media feeds up those fears. The pulse of the world is fast, and all kind of different pressures are filling up our lives. No wonder why so many people feel lost and hopeless, and don´t know how to get along with themselves, their relationships and the whole chaotic world. Theatre is a mirror that reflects all these things which are going on in the society. I think that those three plays don´t exaggerate when they describe today´s Finland. Of course the life isn´t that way wiht everybody, but they show an example of what have happened to some people, and what could happen to you too. Especially Unnecessary People is more like a documentary, than a play. I think there are several reasons why these kinds of plays has to be made. They can open your eyes to realize how good your own life is. They are also a way to discuss about injustices of society. And if nothing else, in a good old Aristotelic way: they are a way to experience pity and sympathy for the characters and that way to cleanse those feelings. These three plays don´t leave you feeling totally depressed. Behind everythig you can always see a glimpse of hope. But by seeing the plays you can experience all kind of negative feelings, and when you leave the theater, you have a change to feel clean and empty, in a good way. -- Ryhmäteatteri: Hamlet. Directed
by Mika Myllyaho
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