Review: Sommarboken

Lilla Teatern will present a successful dramatisation of the Summer Book.

★★★★

I WAIT for the archipelago, I wait for the sea, I wait for grandma’s witty wisdom and the little girl’s stubborn observations. I get a little bit of something else, and that makes Sommarboken better than average.

Tove Jansson’s Summer Book is now being dramatised for the first time in Finland. The story is about a grandmother and grandchild who spend the summer in the archipelago. His father is also there, but he is never seen because he is working.

In their free time, the grandmother and granddaughter found things to do for themselves. They do the kind of things that we do now in the summer. At the same time, we ponder in a Jansson-like way.

Under the direction of JAKOB HÖGLUND , the story set in the summer in the archipelago turns into a box game.

On stage, a pile of wooden boxes illustrates a cottage in one moment, a forest in the next, and a tent in a third.

Of course, box games have been seen in theaters before. However, creating a succulent visual setting like the archipelago in such a simple way is bold.

The best part is that the drawers work most of the time. Only occasionally does the stage remain messy.

Another great feature of the work is that sound designer Hanna Mikander creates the sounds on stage together with the actors. There is water in cups, paper bags and zippers.

Numerous everyday things create the small and slightly bigger sounds of summer.

At first, however, the sound art tends to take all the attention away from the play itself. When you get over it, you are ready to receive a fine, living whole.

CAST Sue Lemström and Jessica Grabowsky work closely together. The actors’ timing is spot on, and the reaction is genuine.

Lemström’s grandmother is a multidimensional character: characterful, direct, wise, playful and warm at the same time.

The little old Sophia, played by Grabowsky, is simpler. The actress has internalized the sharpest angles of the role of the little girl.

In this case, Sophia becomes a good counterpart to her grandmother.

Does the play adaptation with its gimmicks reach the message of Jansson’s work?

In general, yes.

A summer book is not a serene archipelago and a summer idyll. It is conflicts, constant wisdom and understanding of approaching death.

Sadness in some respects, with a tragicomic twist.

I noticed that I didn’t miss the archipelago photos once. Simple was enough.

I got something I liked that I didn’t expect. That’s always nice.

In the final scene, the boxes are once again piled up on the stage, the hall goes dark and the storm lantern is taken out. Then you know exactly what the final picture will be like.

But the extinguishing of the storm lantern in the darkness of the theatre – after all, it is an extremely beautiful way to announce the end of summer.