Love letter to a play by two young artists

”Teatteridiplomi: Rakkauskirje Freudille
Superego, ego, id. Mitä kun alitajunta haluaa tehdä toisin, kun yliminä? Tunteet sanovat joo, mutta maalaisjärki kieltää. Päänsisäistä väittelyä sekä nuoren suhde-elämän luotsaamista kallonkutistajan tasolta.
24.01.2019 klo 18.00 Helsingin Suomalaisen Yhteiskoulun juhlasalissa, Isonnevantie 8
Kesto n. 30 min
Lavalla Alba Ala-Pietilä ja Julia von Lerber. VAPAA PÄÄSY.”

Yesterday 24^th January, we attended “A love letter to Freud”, a theatre play written, produced and directed by Alba Ala-Pietilä and Julia von Lerber who both were on stage as well. The play was part of their studies at Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu lukio (high school) “Theatre diploma” where they both study.

It was such a wonderful experience that I wanted to share something of it here and perhaps, who knows, someone might invite them to perform. I loved the staging and the idea of the play so much that I don’t want to expose any of its details here.

Alba and Julia had come up with a fascinating way to represent and approach the internal conflicts and struggles we all experience between our drives, passions, motivations, emotions – and the rational self. In the invitation the young artists refer to Superego, Ego, Id and Freud, of course. But it’s about today and what a fresh and liberating way they had to make all this visible and tangible. There were no signs of destructive anxiety, no mania for positive psychological solutions, it was about enlightening conflicts of everyday mental life and ways to live and love in the middle of it all – as we all do, or could do. The play was even fun and educating to follow, and to feel the internal conflicts of the young mind on the stage – and for sure, of the older ones in the audience as I could verify myself. Note that I use the term “mind” here although there were two actors on the stage.

The play is probably aimed at a young audience but it is much more as I could experience when a cavalacade of images from my own teen age, even middle age and current life started entering my own stage of mind. I don’t remember many times that it has been so liberating and delightful to feel and re-experience them, the internal conflicts that have the label ‘problems’. Without spoiling the potential joy of seeing the play (I hope it will be on Youtube or elsewhere), here are some reasons for my enthusiasm about what I saw.

From the start the stage span a space which could be from any famous, intimate theatre house In Europe, it was like a beginning for a classic Italian or French movie. The actors acted as a puzzle to the audience who slowly (at least I was slow to realize it) sensed the core secret of the play: the way to represent the internal, mental struggles and show its consequences and dynamics during the play. What a charming and kind way these young women had in their way to lead the audience to the gates of consciousness. The actors were simply wonderful in creating this scene and its inviting atmosphere. I could feel the defenses shatter in the audience.

Immersing into the play I started to realize there is no psychological limit to how far into a troubled consciousness their play could take us and I even felt the first signs of worry or anxiety, expecting – perhaps – painful conflicts and disasters of life to crowd the stage.  But even that was accomplished in a kind and caring way and the audience was free to enjoy the personal developments. This reminded me from some of the plays directed by professor Pauliina Hulkko, a writer and dramaturgist, who is a master in inviting her audiences to the edge of serious questions of life while at the same time caring for their well-being and motivation, making sure they want to come closer to even extremely difficult themes.

The final scene in the play was full of internal light, joy and promise, a future for the young souls and reminder of the wonderful history of the futures of us all, the older audience. One thing was certain: the mental struggles will continue, forever, but it need not be suffering only. Never have I heard the sound of  “You have a message” been so well placed and liberating. It made me smile and laugh from the heart.

If they are now observant at the school they will invite these skilled, young artists to do the play again after ten years or so, when they have their own, new experiences of life and living behind, to adopt the text to their new situation. The stage is there already; it is ready for anything and needs no transformation. What a wonderful opportunity!