Review: L'ACCIDENT DE BERTRAND (BERTRANDIN KOHTAUS) by HIT Helsinki

HIT theatre collective brought us L'Accident de Bertrand (fin. Bertrandin kohtaus) by Emilie Leconte at Kaapelitehdas. It had its premiere in Finland, excluding its reading in Reading European Drama Festival, Helsinki 2019. The text itself is eventful and interesting with many layers and possibilities in its execution. It does proceed as if it was a dream.

The performance wanted to challenge the viewer's look on capitalism, and in my opinion, succeeded.

The scenes have good rhythm, and the characters are delicious. All the performers really had a good time while performing, and it showed. Personally, I liked Anna Korolainen Crevier's and Elina Kivioja's work the most. They were effortlessly present, and the balance of inner and outer work was excellent. Some of these instances included when Anna came by the audience's feet to gossip or how Elina performed the American pen pal.

Occasionally, some group movements were a little out of sync or not done with focus, though the idea behind them showed.

Puppetry is something quite new to me, but I consider it to be very interesting and freeing in terms of an imaginative story telling. A good puppeteer is in a symbiosis with their puppet; they see, live, yet perfrorm the puppet simultaneously and Elena Rekola does just that. Deciding to tell a story of a disabled person through puppetry is also very symbolic. This also reached its peak at the end, to say the least.

The light design by Fabian Nyberg also supports our protagonist because in the dimness Bertrand's limbs looked as if real. Of course the constructor of the puppet and puppet-diretor Maria-Elina Koivuka has also done great work, naturally the director Meimi Taipale too.

The story absorbs us in the first half, and, in the second half, the themes and morals start to get deeper. There are also different kinds of accidents in the world that always come closer. I predicted that the final accident would happen to our characters, for the nearest accident was one kilometer away. But now, when I think of the title,"Bertrand's accident," maybe the end twist centering around Bertrand was the "accident" at hand.

The themes that spoke to me the most were the double standards of the people around Bertrand. When the twist comes we can see that the people who "supported Bertrand" were all about themselves. I can see this happening in the real world, on a macro and micro scale.

Generally the cousins were horribly wonderful ihanan kamalia), personas that everyone must have met at some point in their life. Visually, the most appealing scene to me was the dream scene in which Bertrand had the ability to float. It was absorbing, yet believable, giving us a deeper connection to Bertrand's world.

All in all L'Accident de Bertrand was positively something different, well thought out and beautifully minimalistic. Thanks for the invitation!

Script Émilie Leconte
Director Meimi Taipale
Puppet contructor and director Maria-Elina Koivula
Costume Design Suvi Matinaro
Sound and music design Annimaria Fabritius
Light and Set Design Fabian Nyberg
Technician Ava Heinonen
Translator Sanna Kangasluoma
Graphics Sara Östman
Photos Miso Macura
On Stage Emma Castrén, Aurora Manninen,
Anna Korolainen Crevier, Elina Kivioja and Elena Rekola
Production HIT Helsinki
Text: Rosanna Ilo Liuski

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