Teater Kojan will bring Tove Jansson’s beloved story to the stage when the new Moomin play, based on Tove Jansson’s second picture book, ‘Vem ska trösta Knyttet?’ (Who Will Comfort Toffle?), premieres in Finland in February 2017.
The idea for this theatre production came from Ida Törnroos, whose father, Benny Törnroos, has sung the familiar theme song of the Moomin animation TV series in Finnish and Swedish. In her father’s footsteps, also Ida has found the magical world of the Moomins.
“My father Benny started touring with the Moomins already before I was born and still these trolls brighten up our lives. Moomins have had a strong influence on me and I think this is one reason why I started to study acting”, Ida Törnroos says.
This summer, Ida moved to a little island in the Turku archipelago with his partner Simon.
“The quiet, changing and sometimes even dangerous landscape is fascinating and inspires me like it inspired Tove”, Ida says.
“But as in the cities, we occasionally can feel us idle, lonely and an outsider. Having one of those moments I found myself sitting with a book on my lap. The book was Tove Jansson’s ‘Who will comfort Toffle?’. I recognised having the same thoughts and going through the same struggles as Toffle in that book. Then I knew…”, Ida continues.
Teater Kojan is a group of four theatre professionals: Simon Strömsund, Kaisa Lallukka, Axel Hanses, and Ida. Ida, Simon, Kaisa, and Axel have studied and done many productions together, but ‘Vem ska trösta Knyttet?‘ is their first Moomin play. Because there are only four people on the team, “everybody does everything”, from building up the decor to composing music and, of course, also acting.
The play premieres in Espoo, Finland, on February 4th, 2017, and then tours the country.
Read more about the Teater Kojan here.