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I’ve never really cared about the Moomins. Of course, I read a few Moomin stories as a child, and when the godchildren were small, you couldn’t avoid the Moomins in children’s TV shows. But Tove Jansson as a person, especially her love for the sea and the archipelago, has always attracted me. Summer Book (Sommarboken) and Haru, a Certain Island (Anteckningar från en ö) have been particularly close to me.
My childhood summers by the sea, if not in the outer archipelago, then in the archipelago, have shaped my worldview in such a way that when Sophia, played by Jessica Grabowsky, carefully descends from a cliff into the sea in Lilla Teatern’s play Sommarboken I am one with her and carefully descend the algae-covered rocky steps into the cold water of Airisto in early summer.
Summer on the island of Klovharu
Sommarbok’s play takes place on a small island, such as Klovharu, where the author spent his summers as long as he could. The island is created on a blue stage, on the sea, with plywood boxes, which work excellently: as a rock, stones, a cave, a tent, a forest. Add some down and the allies are also in the story!
The beloved Sommarboken tells the story of the summer, perhaps the last, of the girl Sophia, father and grandmother, on an island in the Gulf of Finland. The father is only present in the story, not on stage, so the dialogue takes place between Sophia (Jessica Grabowsky) and the grandmother (Sue Lemström).
Summer on the island consists of small episodes: walking in nature, observing birds and plants, adventuring in a cave or a haunted forest, going swimming.
The thought of grandma’s perhaps last summer is sometimes a little distressing, but mostly just a part of life when Sophia asks her grandmother “Have you remembered to take Lupatro?”
Brisk Sophia lives her summer boldly and to the fullest: “I’ll soon come up with something dangerous and then I’ll be scared again.” A night in a tent is a bit scary, but you still have to try it. You shouldn’t climb on the sea mark, but he climbs anyway. The rules are set by the father and there are rules for both Sophia and the grandmother, which puts the child and the elderly on the same level. They also take care of each other.
When her father’s friends visit the island, the child’s and adults’ worlds diverge for a moment: Sophia is unable to attend the party, which she loudly protests. But Sophia’s head doesn’t hurt the next morning either.
For a child living on a summer island, in the middle of nature, nature is dear to everything, starting with insects. Grandma has to comfort Sophia for a long time after the hookworm breaks and explains that both ends of the worm will survive.
Those who live on the island also know that you must not step on moss: the moss will survive twice, but if you step on it three times, it will die.
For the most part, the play keeps you in its grip – only in the haunted forest does the viewer’s thoughts disappear from the island for a moment.
Sounds of nature on stage
At least at first, the third character on stage, sound designer Hanna Mikander, is a little disturbing. The most delicate sounds of summer are subtly executed on stage in a way that is visible to the viewer, but it takes a moment to understand that the character has no part in the story.
Jessica Grabowsky and Sue Lemström both perform their roles well, but especially Jessica’s performance as a young girl is real: the transitions from joy to crying and from reflection to action happen quickly.
I also liked the costumes of the play: both Sophie’s and grandmother’s clothes are so wonderfully timeless that I could almost imagine them all in my own wardrobe!
Sommarboken with Finnish subtitles
We both know Swedish well enough that we could have watched the play without subtitles, but I still wanted to try it. The subtitles were implemented with a small application installed on the phone (Thea) and especially with a wifi network reserved for subtitles. In a simple application, the texts were displayed on a screen with a dark background without disturbing others. I sometimes wanted to check someone’s words, such as that the ravine is a ravine. The application and thus the subtitles worked well throughout the presentation: only once did I have to close it and restart it when the subtitles stopped “running” normally.
In the spoken play, the role of music was not great, but at the end of the first act, Evert Taube’s Sjösala waltz suited the mood well and made me sing the words of the Finnish version: “orvokki, lehtkki, vuokko and many others”.
If you want to go from the middle of winter to summer, to the summers of your childhood, go check out Sommarboken!