Pippi's spectacular trick

“Pippi at the Circus” is an hour and a half of good humor, catchy music, wild circus tricks and stage fun from all sides!

Pippi Longstocking was first shown in Sweden in 2022, and it ran for a few years there before being played at Det Norske Teatret. The music was written by Björn Ulvaeus, who is known from the music group ABBA. The script was written by the Swedish film director and screenwriter Maria Blom. 

It is a circus musical based on a chapter of Astrid Lindgren's book "Pippi Longstocking". Pippi (Natalie Bjerke Roland) and her friends, Tommy (Oskar Maximillian Wifladt Blomseth) and Annika (Hennie Vanay Almaas) go to the circus together. Pippi has never been to a circus before, and is very curious about what it is. She quickly finds out that it is much more fun to be part of the circus show itself, than to be an audience member. Throughout the play, Pippi is inspired by the various circus artists, and goes on stage and imitates them, but of course with her own little twist.    

When I entered the hall, I almost had to stop to admire the stage. I had seen a glimpse of it online, but I couldn't imagine just how magnificent it really was. Not long after I sat down, I started to get the feeling that I was in a real circus. Here, I think the characters in the play contributed the most to making the set design perfect. All the components complimented each other so nicely. Everything from the circus director's (Heidi Gjermundsen Broch) bold blue eyeshadow, and Miss Oppsie (Ken-Philippe Tete) and the poodles' colorful costumes to Prussiluskan's (Julie Moe Sandø) big personality fit this scene perfectly!

Real and wild circus tricks

It started when a man came on stage and played with a candle, and suddenly he threw it out to one of the children in the audience, then he signaled for it to be thrown back. He played back and forth on stage like this, before running up the stairs to the children further back in the hall. It was a kind of fun "opener" before the show started, but what really gave me the circus feeling was when they started performing real circus tricks.

Despite the fact that this was "Pippi at the Circus", I didn't expect real (and wild) circus tricks to be performed from the stage. Just like Pippi, I've never been to a circus before, so this was quite an experience! When they performed the different stunts, I was completely speechless. One trick I particularly liked was when they used a human as a skipping rope, it was just something I absolutely had not imagined was possible. There were four actors involved. One took the arms, while the other took the legs. They swung the third one back and forth with increasing speed, until they swung her all the way around! Then the fourth came and jumped over. 

We need more of Pippi

The circus musical Pippi at the Circus could be a big hit for both young and old. Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking is a big and important part of many people's childhood, and with the accompaniment of Björn Ulvaeus' music, I was very excited about the play. The actors played well and the circus artists impressed. This is one of the types of plays that I think we need more of. It's an hour and a half of pure joy, which I think everyone can have great fun watching. I haven't had a special relationship with Pippi since I was little, and even I enjoyed it.