Annika Poijärvi does an intense job in a two-hour monologue that poignantly deals with the position of a victim of sexual violence in the legal process.
Drama
Prima Facie. Finland standard performance in the Maalaamo Hall of the National Theater on April 25, 2024. Text by Suzie Miller, translated by Aleksi Milonoff. Directed by Susanna Kuparinen. ★★★★
Really intensive. That one premiered on Thursday in the new Maalaamo Hall of the National Theatre First Face. Australian-British playwright Suzie Miller the play he wrote is a monologue, where almost all the weight is on the actor’s shoulders.
It is not a problem Annika Poijärvi, who does a wildly fine two-hour seamless job in Maalaamosal. The show doesn’t really feel like a monologue, Poijärvi outlines such a rich spectrum of characters in addition to the main character Tessa.
There are no co-actors on the sleek stage built in Maalaamosali’s black box, but Pury Hyttinen videos and lights as well Sea grass Luoton kirskahleten Joussoitattim are in cooperation. The director also seems to have done well Susanna Kuparinen work: it’s hard to figure out how Poijärvi could refine his expression and movement any more.
Translated by the text Aleksi Milonoff has also done well: the text flows into Finnish naturally.
Protagonist Tessa is a successful defense lawyer, who rose from a working-class family to a prestigious profession via Cambridge. He has been noted to be particularly good at defending men accused of rape.
Since the law is Tessa’s passion and the trial is a game for her, the truth has no meaning even in rape trials. Only applies in the courtroom legal truththat which can be shown to be true.
Tessa grills in cross-examination assumed victims, enjoys the race and covers with adrenaline the questions that sometimes appear in his mind like a broken hair. What if the man was guilty?
When Tessa herself becomes a victim of sexual violence, a gulf grows from hair breakage that threatens to swallow everything. Although he seems to have lost faith in himself, he decides to take the case to court. Even in spite of the fact that he knows how difficult it is for a rape victim to prove in court that the crime took place.
When interrogating the victims in the past, Tessa did everything she could to undermine their story. Now he has to experience for himself how sexual violence is a crime, where it is difficult, if not impossible, to present what happened in a logical package.
In addition, there will be questions that sound like accusations. How many doses of alcohol? Oh, you used to find him attractive?
Although Tessa is great at her job as a defense attorney, as a victim she is just as vulnerable as any rape victim.
Finn case law is somewhat different from the British one. However, the deep question of Miller’s play about whether the justice system should be changed in terms of how victims of crime are heard is passed on to us as such.
Long waiting times – Tessa is waiting for a trial for 782 days – are also familiar from the Finnish system, writes the docent of forensic psychology in the handbook Julia Korkman.
In addition, as time passes, memories change easily. “For this, the victim of the crime may pay a heavy price,” Korkman writes.
It is also the case that because British law is very familiar through TV and movies, the viewer does not get the impression of foreignness even from the wigs or the admittedly crazy cape.
When the topic is so absolutely important, it seems almost inappropriate to notice that in the central scene of the end, the play text becomes quite lecture-like. The change inevitably also takes away from the show’s final scene, although Poijärvi’s intensity does carry through to the last second.
In London, he played the role – and at the same time made his theater debut Killing Eve played a serial killer in the series Jodie Comer, which has garnered a lot of praise for the role. The show moved from London to Broadway and has also sparked a social debate.
It’s okay to hope that First Face would also have a longer lifespan in Finland than the currently announced weeks at the National Theatre. This is a show that should tour as widely as possible.
Set design, lights and video Pyry Hyttinen, costumes Saara Ryymin, music Meriheini Luoto, sounds Olli Valkola, performance dramaturg Akse Pettersson, dramaturg Eva Buchwald, legal consulting Otava Piha. Annika Poijärvi on stage.
Annika Poijärvi performs the monologue precisely and energetically, but also sensitively.