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There was no need to be afraid of screaming
Mr. Huu is joyfully gentle children’s theatre
Hannu Mäkelä: Mr. Huu. Helsinki City Theatre, Elsa Stage. Arranged and directed by Katja Krohn, visualisation by Elina Kolehmainen,
music by Iiro Ollila, lighting by Juhani Leppänen, sound by Harri Ahponen, cast: Sixten Lundberg, Marjut Toivanen, Aki Pelkonen,
Jyrki Nousiainen and Tiia Louste.
Already during the intermission, a nine-year-old acquaintance of mine asked my companion of the same age “do you like it”. The companion answered without hesitation
with three o’s: “yes!” The Helsinki City Theatre’s children’s novelty Mr. Huu was good enough for the target audience. So what else can an adult add to it. Perhaps enough to shun Sixten Lundberg’s view of Hannu Mäkelä’s beloved fairy tale character at first. Why does an actor speak in such a strange voice? And why does he act so terribly
a lot?
I understand problem. It’s the same as if you were to play the title role in Hamlet or Esko in Nummisuutarit. The viewer thinks they know what kind of
is the real Hamlet. Or Esko. Or Mr. Huu. The actor can’t help but win over the viewer with his or her own vision and personality
biases. And in the end, Sixten Lundberg overcomes me, the book reader, with his humanity that pops on the borders of sorrow, with his basic brightness
and energy. Always ready for something new. As the premiere progressed, the actor itself was freed from the rather tense and perhaps over-trying mood of the beginning. Sixten
Lundberg developed into a slightly sad philosopher and at the same time an eternal little boy who wondered about the world. I understand that too:
Hannu Mäkelä has written. That is, someone who thinks that in numbers a three is followed by five and thus counting there are a total of 15 fingers in two hands.
Unless there are three of those hands. Maybe it is.
Role work is quite significant in Herra Huu, adapted and directed by Katja Krohn . After all, the play rests on the shoulders of the person who plays the title role from edge to edge. The arrangement is almost a Monologue by Mr. Huu, despite its flashy interludes. You have to believe in that monologue, from its kind of
We must not be discouraged by the undramatic, the explanatory nature of the beginning. Otherwise, things will go badly. On the Elsa stage, things go well, also because the interpretation spices up even the heavier revelations with Iiro Ollila’s gentle music and the humour of the scenes. There was no need to be afraid, not even the man-eating flower made by Tiia Louste with its tentacles. On the other hand, we understood that it was precisely for individualists like Mr. Huu
The city is a horrible place, maybe for others, but not for everyone.
Acting It was brisk. Marjut Toivanen, Aki Pelkonen and Jyrki Nousiainen performed the cluster of roles with devotion and joy. Elina Kolehmainen’s visualisation, especially Mr. Huu’s Cottage, which is flooded with magic, also won me over. However, the wide stage space was solved by the
ungrateful in terms of load-bearing capacity. The cottage was on the other side of the stage, other events with slides, shadow images and puppet theatre vignettes
with another. At all times, some of the spectators were far away from the events. However, they returned home from Mr. Huu in good spirits. “It was worth coming,” said my companion.