Theater Review | The colorful play tells the story of Frida Kahlo with skeletons and songs

Musical theater

Tampere Tyovvaen Theater. The premiere of the play written and directed by Anne Rautiainen on the big stage on 18.1.

★★★

Ladies have recently been strongly represented on the main stages of the big theaters in Tampere.

The heroes of the previous performance year were the musical princess Anastasia and the domestic fisherman's wife Katrina, both of whom have had role models in real life. This year's attractions are a French singer Edith Piaf and Mexican visual artist Frida Kahlowhich over the decades have been the subject of several plays.

To be seen at Tampere Tyovvaen Theatre Frida is almost a domestic act.

Of course, the play's music is composed of Mexican folk songs, internationally known ballads and well-established jazz standards, whose familiar melodies almost create a more familiar than exotic impression. The songs performed in the original language, in Spanish and English, have such a layered history of their own that they are also accepted as part of Frida's story.

Of the special ones the role of the artist known for his self-portraits and tragic phases of his life is played by a lively artist Elsa Saisiowho in her strong mask resembles the dark-eyed Kahlo familiar from photographs and paintings.

As a performance Frida however, above all, it reminds me of the one who wrote and directed the play Anne Rautiaiswho has a surprising way of taking familiar works and adapting them to a new faith, was then the question Chekhov from the play Bulgakov from the novel or Wenders from the movie.

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954)'s life story is certainly part of general cultural knowledge here as well. At least the traffic accident Kahlo experienced as a young girl, in which an iron rod pierced her pelvis and caused fractures to her spine, has remained in people's minds.

In the case of Frida, Rautiainen's stage fantasy does not take full flight, but remains stuck in its biographical material.

The play doesn't seem to know how to decide whether it wants to build a historical portrait of Kahlo or use her life as material for dealing with themes it considers important.

Frida's relationship with her mother (Teija Auvinen) and sister (Erikka Väliahde) gets sharp tones in the performance, but the marriage artist Diego Rivera (Pe
ntti Helin) is reduced to a very set-up on stage. In any case, the considerable size difference between the actors offers a delicious starting point for dynamic and visually effective snapshots in the depiction of a relationship.

Workers' theater the performance progresses in a flowing dance manner, although the overall rhythm remains unnecessarily even. The scenes follow one another like the carriages of a train, but fortunately, the change of sets goes smoothly thanks to the group of girls lightly exercising and twirling.

The colorful play also includes death as an essential part, which walks on the stage in the form of a skeleton moved by the puppeteer and as Frida's constant companion.

One of the saddest problems in Finnish theater is that performances of domestic plays are usually limited to first performances, and the works do not go on tour to other theaters. Frida's what makes it exceptional is that the play premiered in the Kuopio City Theater in the spring of 2016 not only gets a new interpretation in Tampere, but everything is done by the original artistic team, except for the actors.

Death walks on stage in the form of a skeleton moved by a puppeteer. Picture: Tampere Workers' Theatre

Focus despite the digression, the show's pared-down approach impresses.

In one of Finland's most famous musical theaters, it has now been proven that a full-fledged musical theater performance could be realized just by placing an actor Petra Karjalainen and a musician Tuomas Luukkonen to the edge of the stage to jam.

Set and costumes by Marie Antikainen, choreography by Liisa Ruuskanen, lights by Janne Teivainen, videos and projections by Matias Ojanen, sound design by Antti Puumalainen, hairstyles and masks by Pepina Granholm. In the roles Elsa Saisio, Pentti Helin, Soile Ojala, Petra Karjalainen, Pekka Kekäläinen, Teija Auvinen, Erikka Väliahde, Minna Hokkanen, Janne Kallioniemi, Juha-Matti Koskela, Miko Helppi and musician Tuomas Luukkonen.