Review: Tatu ja Patu Helsingissä

“Ooooh, aahhh, kato äiiitiii!”, the audience shouts excitedly when strange things start to happen in the theatre in the middle of the musical Tatu and Patu in Helsinki . On stage, Tatu and Patu’s mysterious cousin Jori (Paavo Kerosuo) blows soap bubbles to the delight of his friends. At the same time, soap bubbles float from the ceiling of the theatre onto the audience’s necks.

The ecstatic expressions on children’s faces at bubbles, musical scenes and a baby giant pigeon remind us why it is extremely important, even necessary, that theatres have good, inspiring, fun and skilfully made programmes for children: performances like this inspire new generations into the wonderful world of theatre. The cheerleaders return to this house with joy.

Tatu (Antti Timonen) and Patu (Paavo Kääriäinen) arrive in Helsinki from their home village of Outola, as anyone familiar with the book series created by Aino Havukainen and Sami Toivonen knows. Before Tatu and Patu find out what strange businesses Jori, who has moved to Helsinki, is up to, they get to travel on stage by tram and dance together in the audience.

The set design of the musical Tatu and Patu is magnificent, thanks to Markus Tsokkinen. The visual appearance of the stage clearly pays homage to the books.