Review: Mörköooppera

The Groke opera with its 80s hits was updated to modern times – a giant apple was a great thing for a four-year-old

PLAY Helsinki City Theatre brought The Groke Opera to the age of social media.

The journey from Mökkyrä in the 1980s to today’s Helsinki does not take very long if you know how to do it.

Marjatta Pokela’s 80s hit, The Groke Opera, has been brought to the present day by the Helsinki City Theatre team, and the end result works.

The play is a stunning collection of visual elements that catch a child’s eye, interesting funny characters and, above all, music adapted to the present day.

The music of the Groke Opera is modern, even though it is based on 80s children’s hit songs. Musiikkimato (Lauri Schrek) has both arranged Pokela’s songs and performed them inside a giant apple that opens in the middle of the play.

The opening of the Giant Apple was a great thing for four-year-old Ohto, who was the companion of the play, as well as what happened next: “Inside it was a hornworm and it was called the Music Worm. It played all the music.”

The music swept me away, in the words of a four-year-old: “Mom, my heart beats to the beat of that song”. For the youngest, the volume of the music is close to frightening, but no one left at the premiere and there were no crying fits.

All in all, The Groke Opera has been modernized so that the play can well be described as a children’s play of the 2020s, even though there is some time before the beginning of the decade.

The story is the same. The Groke leaves the fairy tale world of Mökkyrä to get to know the world of humans. She ends up at school in Oulu and from there to Helsinki.

The main part of the adventure is in Helsinki, although Mökkyrä and its wacky characters are also introduced.

Helsinki itself is not highlighted much in the play. The focus is on larger themes, such as difference, people’s completely grumpy habits, the oppression of the Groke in the human world, and how the Groke rises above oppression.

Mörö (Sanna Majuri) has an attitude. Definitely not an unnecessary monster, but brave and brisk, even though he gets a cold ride in the human world.

On stage, there were guaranteed children’s favourite things, such as farting in Parliament and questioning the teacher’s authority.

The perpetrator was, of course, the Groke.

The performance can withstand the children’s comments, of which there were many at the premiere.

Somehow, it’s so much nicer to be in children’s performances than in adults, because it’s more relaxed. Even the adults seemed to give themselves more space in The Groke Opera than in the adult opera.

The Groke Opera is also suitable for school-age children. Eight-year-old Niko thinks the best part was the school class.

The Groke showed anarchy and courage by making noises whenever the teacher was about to start presenting something important.

The play can be recommended from the age of four to nine and upwards.