A philosophical fantasy adventure takes you to the big questions
“When you dive into a new work, you try to find something that is essential in life,” says director Irene Aho .
In My Friend’s Pelican, you start looking for it through an unusual friendship.
The play begins when Emil’s parents divorce and he has to move with his mother from the countryside to the city. The mysterious Mr. Hyyryläinen has recently moved into the same house, whom Emil immediately recognizes as a pelican in human clothing.
The pelican has decided to become a human and asks Emil to teach him to read and write. During the lessons, Emil and the pelican become friends.
The play is based on Leena Krohn’s second novel In Human Clothes (1976). “It’s a warm, humane and multi-layered story that resonates with the question of the relationship between humans and nature,” Aho says.
“On the other hand, it speaks of loneliness and homesickness. Emil misses the countryside and the pelican misses his chicks and the place he has had to leave when his living space has been reduced.”
Inspired by the pelican’s love of the arts
While learning about human life, the pelican becomes enthusiastic about science and falls in love with the arts. As an artist, Aho feels that this is a particularly significant part of the story.
“It shows that we humans need art in order to experience life as meaningful. In exceptional times, when people are isolated from art and from each other, life feels inadequate. We also need nourishment for the soul.”
Pelikaani is ecstatic above all about the opera, which has also served as a source of inspiration for the play’s working group. The music is influenced by classical music, and the aesthetics of the performance, especially the costumes, are influenced by Baroque elements and fantasy.
“Stylistically, a strong approach has been taken here, because the original work is set in a landscape from the 70s. We didn’t want to start from everyday realism,” Aho says.
However, the play retains the basic story and philosophical spirit of Krohn’s novel. For Aho, the text is the starting point and the first point of inspiration. On top of that, he wants to create a rich world made with a strong imaginative touch.
“The language of the stage is what can be seen and felt, and the imagination of the director and the crew plays a key role in this. The purpose is to create a world that can be sensed by every cell.”
That’s why there is a lot of music and movement in My Friend’s Pelican . To create the movement language, Aho uses the viewpoints technique. The choreography is created in the rehearsals through improvisational exercises.
The play consists mostly of two-person scenes in which the rest of the ensemble plays people walking around the city and produces material through movement. “I want to bring life force to the urban environment in the middle of which the pelican and the boy move.”
Great themes for kids
If I had to sum up My Friend’s Pelican into one question, it could be: what does it mean to be human? According to Aho, the question opens up above all through friendship.
Emil and the pelican become friends despite their differences, but at the end of the play, they are separated. People have found out that Mr. Hyyryläinen is a pelican and locked him up in a zoo.
Emil frees the pelican, even though he knows that he will have to give up his friend. The pelican is disappointed in humans after realizing that human achievements are not all good. He no longer wants to live a human life, but returns to his own people.
The theme of giving up friendship touches Aho. “This question is a deep one and still hits home in adulthood, because you have to give up the things and people you love throughout your life.”
In addition to friendship, My Friend the Pelican deals with the relationship between humans and nature and the significance of art for humans. In the book, man and human activity appear through the eyes of a pelican.
“There are no themes that are easy for a child to chew on, but the play is made in such a way that it is easy to accept. I believe that it will provoke thoughts even in the smallest viewer.”
My friend’s pelican is suitable for everyone from school-age children upwards, but Aho does not want to call it children’s theatre.
“I think the word children’s theatre undervalues both the importance of theatre and children. My starting point is that I make theatre for the whole family,” Aho points out.
“But of course, you have to take into account that you don’t scare children unnecessarily. Children are sensitive to sounds and lights, especially in a live performance situation.”
Aho has the same ambition for child viewers as he does for adults. “I want to respect children and their ability to absorb things in the form of art.”
Ida Henritius