Review: Aikuisten joulukalenteri

Review of the Helsinki City Theatre’s Christmas Calendar for Adults: Going Christmas Therapy

The busiest time for Christmas parties is fast approaching. The actual Christmas is also approaching. This situation is a great place and opportunity for everyone to get stressed in one way or another. Either because you hate the whole period and the fuss, or because you want to find a light and fun enough way to celebrate with friends or co-workers for once.

You can find help for both problems in the Helsinki City Theatre’s dance group’s Christmas show “Aikuisten joulukalenteri” (Christmas Calendar for Adults).

Choreographer Jyrki Karttunen, in the character of Christmas therapist Leo-Matti Kurkiainen, has opened a Christmas therapy suitable for everyone. It can be enjoyed by both those who more or less hate the word Christmas and those who call themselves Christmas people.

The presentation related to the doors of the advent calendar accommodates all the most common clichés, which have been treated ironically but tenderly. I can’t imagine anyone managing to get hurt by anything. Still, we are not completely without teeth.

One of the sharpest hits is Lucia. The “original” Sicilian woman, played by Heidi Naakka in a tough and wonderful way, is anything but a delicately ethereal blonde candle maiden.

On the other hand, there are also sensitive moments, such as the well-known song “Joulumaa”, which as a poem recited by Karttunen takes on completely different meanings than when sung.

Of course, it is part of joint therapy that the audience can also participate. They act as competing bidding shares with bravo and boo shouts, but also as topics for performers in various positions. And since there is still a centenary of Finland’s independence left, of course we will learn a joint ballroom dance, to which the audience will give the motifs of the movements. In the style of a proper show, many other topical topics are also flashed along, includingTrump.

The performance is carried out by both current and former members of the dance company with guest confirmations. The atmosphere is just as high-quality both in terms of dance and songs as we are used to expecting from the group. Things are swinging, there is plenty of speed and there is an edge to the interpretations.

There is a crooked stack of familiar Christmas songs, and a couple of more unfamiliar ones, but in new arrangements or just to give a background atmosphere. Laura Dammert’s costumes shoot over the top as they should, and William Iles’ lights complete the revolving stage.

I’m not sure if this therapy will cure my Christmas phobia, but it’s quite entertaining. You don’t have to think about the big and deep ones, but there are so many small thorns in the mix that you don’t completely slip either.