The Tatu and Patu musical theatre performance offers speed and joy from the entire large stage

Finland’s most popular children’s book characters, Tatu and Patu, will take over the main stage of the Helsinki City Theatre from 26 November. The premiere of the musical play Tatu and Patu in Helsinki was postponed by almost three months due to the coronavirus, but now the novelty brings speed, strange humour and insightful joy to the darkening evenings of winter for children and other playful people.

“The musical play Tatu and Patu on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre is a pretty crazy thing for us. Tatu and Patu have never been seen on stage on such a large scale before. We have been involved in the writing of the script, so we are familiar with it, but it is really exciting to see the finished implementation. It feels amazing that a large number of talented people have been thinking about how to make our silly Outola brothers work as well as possible on stage!”, say the creators of their favourite characters, authors Aino Havukainen and Sami Toivonen.

“We had to interrupt training in the spring and resume them later than anticipated in the autumn. This obligatory break has actually been good for the performance: we are able to take it in an even more strange direction. The working group has focused on the topic, and it feels like everyone has found even more momentum in their work. In the midst of the coronavirus autumn, it feels great that we can do our part to cheer up theatre lovers with Tatu-Patuma’s humour and twist. A joyful premiere for the whole family – can you offer anything finer for children and other playful people?”, asks director Sami Rannila, who is also responsible for the script together with Havukainen and Toivonen.

In the play, brothers Tatu and Patu from Strange come to Helsinki to visit their cousin Jori. Jori is the most successful stranger of all time, but he is so busy that the brothers have their work cut out to keep up with Jori. While adventuring around Helsinki, Tatu and Patu encounter many of the wonders of the capital. How to deal with e.g. the potentially dangerous vest gang members dressed in fenissaries, traffic lights, restaurant days or mud overalls?

The roles of Tatu and Patu are played by the duo known as Liero and Kiero in the musical The Little Mermaid , Antti Timonen (Tatu) and Paavo Kääriäinen (Patu). The other roles are played by Paavo Kerosuo, Sanna Saarijärvi, Sari Haapamäki, Sofia Hilli, Juha Jokela, Selma Kauppinen, Joonas Luomala, Kai Lähdesmäki, Unto Nuora, Tiina Peltonen, Justus Pienmunne, Emilia Nyman, Inka Tiitinen, Kaisa Torkkel, Leenamari Unho and Mikko Vihma.

The music for the novelty for the whole family has been composed by Kari Mäkiranta and the fast-paced choreographies have been designed by academician Marjo Kuusela. Set designer Markus Tsokkinen and media artist Nuutti Koskinen have conjured up an astonishing, gravity-defying Helsinki set with gigantic trams, pedestrian crossings and traffic lights. The costumes of the characters, who exude Helsinkian elegance, were designed by Elina Kolehmainen and the camouflage by Jaana Nykänen. Jenny Villikka is responsible for the design of the props, Petteri Heiskanen for the lighting design and Janne Brelih for the sound design.

The musical play is loosely based on the book Tatu ja Patu in Helsinki (2003), co-written and illustrated by Aino Havukainen and Sami Toivonen. It is the first part of the popular Tatu and Patu book series, which is constantly being reprinted. The translation rights of the book series have been sold to 23 countries, and the books have been published in China, Korea, Russia, the Nordic countries and Hungary, among others. The series has been awarded the Finlandia Junior Prize in 2007 and the Tietopöllö Prize in 2008.

Recommended age from 4 years of age.

Tatu and Patu in Helsinki premiere 26.11.2020 on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre (Eläintarhantie 5)

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Helsinki City Theatre ticket office, Ensi linja 2, Mon-Fri 9 am – 5.30 pm, Eläintarhantie 5 Sat 11 am – 7 pm and one hour before the performance and Lippupiste Mon-Sat 9 am – 9 pm, Sun 10 am – 6 pm, tel. 0600 900 900 (2 €/min + local network charge) 
www.hkt.fi 

Press photos can be found in the image bank and press releases in the newsroom.

Further information, media ticket reservations and interview requests:
Kaisa Pelkonen, Communications Manager, kaisa.pelkonen@hkt.fi, 040 552 3788
Helsinki City Theatre, Ensi linja 2, 00530 Helsinki