Review: Pekka Töpöhäntä

THERE IS NO LOOKING AT THE CAT’S TAIL

The story of the play Pekka Töpöhän , which premiered on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre, is known to grandparents, parents and children alike. Radio journalist and author Gösta Knutsson’s first Pekka Töpötail book was published in Sweden in 1939 and it was translated into Finnish in 1943. Since then, Knutsson has also become famous in space: asteroids have been named after the author and the cat characters he created.

Written and directed by Anneli Mäkelä, the play faithfully follows the story familiar from the Pekka Töpötail books. The kind and honest country cat Pekka (Sami Uotila) arrives in the big city, where he falls into the clutches of nasty surface flying cats. The meanest of all is, of course, the black-voiced Catfish (Matti Olavi Ranin), who is feared by the other cats. The play’s child audience laughs especially at the foolishness of Catfish’s disciples Pilli and Pulla (Jouko Klemettilä and Sixten Lundberg) on stage.

Interestingly, Pekka is recovering from his tail trauma with the help of female cats. At first, Pekka makes the city girl Arkadian Ulla (Marjut Toivanen) dance, but then meets the white and purring Maija Milkbeard (Sanna-June Hyde). Maija Maitoparta likes Pekka’s nickname, because Maija thinks that you can hear that Pekka is not like everyone else. The third female character who rushes to Pekka’s aid is Fat Lissu (Tiia Louste), who is ridiculed – and feared – by the other cats because of his fierce size.

In all its simplicity, the play Pekka Töpötail is an apt description of how easily people (or cats) can be carried away by other people’s opinions. According to social psychological research, bullying is a group phenomenon in which the bully’s power is bolstered by accomplices and silencers. Only a few dare to stand up to defend the bullied. The moral of the story is that bullying and conspiracy will not get you far. The curse of taillessness is lifted when Pekka himself accepts his differences.

In the first act, you run through Pekka’s adventures, but in the play, you don’t really get going until after the intermission. Ilkka Kuusisto’s music and Lars Huldén’s lyrics captivate the child audience, and after the evening, a pack of meowing and growling little cats erupts from the hall.