Theater Review Akse Pettersson directed EL Karhun’s impressive speech on the productisation of suffering

Culture|Theater review

Eriopis (Medea’s Surviving Daughter Tells It All), Finnish premiere at Q-Theater 4.3. Play EL Bear, arrangement, dramaturgy and direction by Akse Pettersson. ★★★★

EL Karhun play Eriopis (Medea’s Surviving Daughter Tells It All) the name is a deliciously ironic omen. The raffle promise of the play’s subtitle follows the logic by which the media tells stories and spits them out in a tightly formatted, pre-chewed form.

For Eriopis does not want to tell his story. Akse Pettersson in the refined arrangement for the Q-theater, the headlines are screaming – Eriopis no.

The play, which received an enthusiastic reception, premiered in Schauspiel, Leipzig, Germany, in March 2020. The performance of the Q Theater is the Finnish premiere.

Eriopis is the epitome of the ancient diligently varied myth of Medeia and the tragedy of Euripides (431 BC). It extends the story to Eriopius, the daughter of Medea, who murdered her twin son, to whom the tragedy of Euripides gave no voice.

The Tragedy of the Bear questions the canon of both play and mythology and composes suggestions for the life of Eriopis before and after the tragedy.

The play tells the story of the survivors of the tragedy in the same way as it was performed at the Karhu Q Theater in 2017 Hamletin overwrite, Princess Hamlet.

Akse Pettersson has alternately directed a prose text and dialogue into an influential speech about the productization of suffering. Poetic language is accompanied by a harshly simplified visual realization that emphasizes the claustrophobic dimension of Arctic tragedy.

Pettersson, who previously made frequent use of meta-levels and imagery of violence in his direction, now allows violence to live in words. The interpretation is at the same time harsh and airy.

In the play “North North and South”, Medeia likes the dog sled business in Lapland. After committing the murders, he does not flee the boys ‘bodies with Helios’ carriages but with a dog sled.

Medea is not seen on stage, but by four actors with their naked presence, Lotta Kaihua, Satu Tuuli Karhu, Elena Leeve, Emmi Parviainen, interpret both Eriop and Jason his father. There are no actual characters in the play, but different voices take over the space.

The narrative is distanced, either by a monologue in the form of you, or by the modified voices of the actors in dialogue scenes. Thus, the protagonist Eriopis is always a bystander in his own story, actively-passively fighting against the part of the victim offered to him. In the end, it is up to the viewer to decide who is telling the story and under what conditions.

While this is a multi-level operating tragedy, humor is also involved. Humor comes to the fore especially in the scenes between Jason’s father and Eriopis. The golden-haired Jason’s voice has been drowned out in public, and the father’s image in the rut is more real to the daughter than his absent bodily figure.

The voice of Eriopius, a brochure, monitors the still lifes and language games created by adults with delicious attention.

Q-Theater’s video expertise is again impressive without capturing the main focus. Projections into skillful miniature productions bring new layers to the stage.

Staging Accounts Provided, lights Kristian Palmu, Antti Viirkorpi, costumes Sanna Levo, sounds and music Matti Raita, live video design Ida Järvinen. In the roles Lotta Kaihua, Satu Tuuli Karhu, Elena Leeve, Emmi Parviainen.