The Estonian Drama Theatre’s Rahamaa (Business as Usual) gave two sold-out performances at the Tampere Theatre Festival on 7 and 8 August. Performed on the 818-seat Main Stage of Tampereen Työväen Teatteri, the production received an enthusiastic response from both audiences and Finnish critics.
More than 1,500 people saw Rahamaa (Business as Usual) over the course of the two performances, both of which were sold out. Aamulehti awarded the production five stars and reported that the performance ended with a standing ovation. In her review for Aamulehti, theatre critic Nina Lehtinen described the production as an exceptionally accomplished piece of theatre and awarded it five stars.
Lehtinen highlighted the way Hendrik Toompere Jr’s production combines speed, humour and precision while leading the audience into the world of international financial crime. The review also praised Mehis Pihla’s documentary-based play for approaching the vast money-laundering scandal through individual human experiences.
Particular attention was given to the production’s use of live cameras and video: stage action and cinematic images merge so seamlessly that the boundary between theatre and film can momentarily disappear. Tõnis Niinemets in the leading role, the ensemble as a whole and Maria Faust’s live band were also singled out for praise.
Speaking to Postimees after the second performance, director Hendrik Toompere Jr and Tõnis Niinemets described the Finnish audience as exceptionally warm. According to Niinemets, the audience responded especially enthusiastically to references connected with Finland and ice hockey, while the applause at the end was even more exuberant than the company is accustomed to in Tallinn.
The Main Stage of Tampereen Työväen Teatteri is larger than the venues in which Rahamaa (Business as Usual) has previously been performed. Transferring the technically demanding production to a new theatre therefore required several days of rehearsals and adjustments, including rebuilding the lighting design for the space. Toompere Jr also praised the venue’s acoustics, which suited the production’s live music particularly well.
Niinemets noted that over more than two years of performances, the actors and Maria Faust’s band have grown increasingly attuned to one another. “It is like a tango: the music is one partner, the company the other.” The musicians vary their playing slightly from performance to performance, while the actors respond to those changes. At the same time, the cameras, lighting and tightly structured rhythm of the production ensure that the performance never becomes routine.
On 6 August, author of Rahamaa (Business as Usual) Mehis Pihla took part in a discussion on documentary theatre and collective memory together with Elli Salo, dramaturg of the Finnish National Theatre production Muistopäivä. The discussion was moderated by Finnish culture journalist Maria Säkö.
The conversation focused on theatre’s ability to give a human dimension to complex social and political subjects such as money laundering, geopolitics and historical trauma. It also addressed how Rahamaa uses the money-laundering story to explore Estonian society, values and moral choices more broadly.
Following Tampere, Rahamaa will continue its international journey. From 26 to 28 August, the production will be performed in Riga at Dailes Theatre, where the performances are also sold out.
The company is also looking further ahead. Toompere Jr named Copenhagen’s CPH STAGE festival as one long-standing ambition for the production.