Ville Saukkonen has
directed two operas of Paul Hindemith (Hin und zurück and Sancta Susanna) to
the Omapohja stage of Finnish National Theatre. Both operas are short (about 15
and about 30 minutes) and Sancta Susanna hasn’t been shown in Finland before.
Well, none of Paul Hindemith’s operas are shown that often in Finland. Before
the operas the orchestra played Hindemith’s Concerto for Flute (1st part).
In the ”Hin und zurück”
a married couple is getting ready to eat breakfast, when the wife is forced to
confess that she has a lover. The husband kills the wife and then, in remorse,
himself, after which a higher force reverses all that has happened and everything
returns to the beginning.
The opera made me
rather speechless. When you hear the same lines and see the same things for the
third time in a row (death-reverse-death), you start to yearn for something
else to happen, especially since the singing of Petri Bäckström (the husband) did
not get any better when repeated. I did not get overly enthusiastic about the
music and my ear did not really fancy any of the singers’ performances.
The set (the group) and
make-up (Taru Haili) were cool. The set consisted of wooden chairs that acted
as presents and guns and whatever when necessary. Quite a successful solution. The
make-up was really extravagant, but it suited the wacky story. Jouni Bäckströn as the higher force was
especially good.
Out of these two
operas I personally liked Sancta Susanna more. The story was a bit stupid since
it tells about a nun, who hears two young lovers making out in the garden, awakens
sexually and begs for a cruel punishment. But the music was better suited for
singing. The set was again built of the same chairs with an addition of a
candle holder.
Laura Pyrrö sang well
the role of Susanna, but I liked even better Mari Hautaniemi in the role of
Sister Klementia. The old nun (Margit Westerlund) was also great. The two dancers (Tuulia Eloranta and
Oskari Kymäläinen) were the charming young lovers.
There are two more
performances left, on Friday and on Saturday.
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| Margit Westerlund, Jouni Bäckström and Mari Hautaniemi |
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| Laura Pyrrö and Mari Hautaniemi |
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