Review: Onneli ja Anneli
Onnel and Anneli’s stage version speaks to adults and children
Helsinki City Theatre continues its series of ambitious, carefully crafted children’s performances that respect a child’s intellect and imagination. Marjatta Kurenniemi’s beloved Onneli and Anneli take over the stage, written as a play by Eppu Nuotio and Tuutikki Tolonen . Director Lija Fischer’s madly fast-paced and lightly humorous interpretation smoothly combines dance, puppet and object theatre with a strongly rhythmic theatrical narrative.
The Onneli and Anneli series of books, which began in the 1960s and combines fairy tales and realistic storytelling traditions, has responded to the fantasy of many generations: to live alone with your best friend in the perfect house. The wild freedom is complemented by imaginative neighbors and a suitable touch of danger and excitement.
A richly lively world
The friends, who are on their first summer vacation, find a lot of money, and Mrs. Ruusupuu (Ágnes Kaszás) sells them what it looks like a made-to-order house. As in the book, the protagonists, who are usually relatable, are overshadowed by their neighbours in terms of colourfulness, but the boisterous and funny Pihla Penttinen and Kreeta Salminen tear all the joy out of them as independent girls.
The dollhouse is inhabited by the resourceful Vaaksanheimo family, the neighbour’s good-naturedly silly flower hat aunts Tingelstiina and Tangelstiina (Leena Rapola and Sari Haapamäki) grow surprise eggs and balloons, and the old maid Rosina Rusina (Vuokko Hovatta) guards her piggy banks and heart in a delightfully nuanced way, which Mr. Ulpukka (Matti Rasila), who undergoes a transformation from a police officer to the director of an orphanage, finally opens.
The group of actors and dancers, who rhythmically cultivate strong physical expression, live in perfect harmony with Maija Linturi’s excellent puppet characters. Objects, animals and people, together with Katariina Kirjavainen’s skilful set design and costumes, form a lively world that draws on the minimalism of the space and, on the other hand, abundant details. Packed with humorous interludes and skilful solutions, the entertaining performance would need time to get to know each other, realise and feel at times.
A fresh update on a classic
The play version retains the warm and at the same time safe conventional and pippi-longstocking-like anarchist character of the story, but the classic is freshly updated to the present day and spiced up with a communal and social message.
A shadow falls over Onnela when an orphanage led by Minna Pinta, who draws on right-wing success and oppression rhetoric, moves to Ruusukuja. Nameless orphans toil in front of Vappu Nalbantoglu , who plays the free-flowing fierce Minna, in leather boots, on an empty stomach.
The different ways in which adults relate and avoid problems emerge: Anneli’s divorced parents do not know where the girl spends her summer, and the neighbours immerse themselves in their own activities and do not see the injustice in their own environment. The determination of the villain Pekki, who has just escaped from the orphanage and is captivatingly played by Tuomas Tulikorpi, makes the adults take action.
The performance is likely to raise questions and discussion at home, as it entertains and speaks to children and adults alike. In the auditorium, you realise how often children’s theatre is made to harmlessly please everyone, so that parents or teachers who make the purchase decision are not frightened. In addition to well-made children’s theatre, Onneli and Anneli is a multifaceted art. It leaves both adults and children the opportunity to have an opinion and the freedom to like or dislike. And that’s a good thing.