Review: Ystäväni pelikaani

My Friend the Pelican at the Helsinki City Theatre

Theatre is an important form of doing things together with our children, and we had a great opportunity to go to see the exhilarating and emotional premiere of My Friend the Pelican with our firstborn on Wednesday.

The play is dramatized based on Leena Krohn’s novel, In Human Clothes. The story is about a boy named Emil, who has trouble adapting to a new life situation. Emil’s parents have divorced, and the son moved to the city with his mother. Emil misses his father and his old life, and he doesn’t even really want to give his new life a chance.

However, meeting a strange new neighbor changes everything. Who, or what, is that peculiar Mr. Hyyryläinen? Is there really a pelican disguised as a human living next door?

Indeed, the pelican has decided to become a human, and for that he needs Emil’s help. Emil immediately agrees to teach the pelican how to read and write, and as a result, they both learn a lot from each other and about themselves in the midst of exciting adventures.

Emil and Mr. Hyyryläinen, a pelican in human clothes, become friends and teach each other to see the world with new eyes.

The play is captivating, it is funny, it is warm and it is also sensitive. Emotions, even big ones, are dealt with, and it also offers life wisdom in a unique way.

The pelican, who is in love with the arts, teaches the viewer something about humanity. The play is full of longing and renunciation, as well as fear of change, but also friendship and the relationship between man and nature.

The play was indeed excellent. We had a fun evening, and the big themes were left at home to chew on. My companion critic 10-year-old recommends – especially the funny scenes were memorable. I also fell in love with the actors’ adaptability and interaction with the audience. I especially remember the melancholy Hyyryläinen at the zoo, when the little girls sitting next to us in the front row waved to a pelican locked in a cage, and he wistfully waved his “wings” at them. I also really liked the costumes and the distinctive style, as well as how the play had movement and liveliness.