Moominvalley in November

23 Oct 2025 until 16 Nov 2025
At Upstairs at the Gatehouse, The Gatehouse, Highgate Village, London, N6 4BD

In celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Moomins, the literary family of Tove Jansson, the Anglo-Finnish Society is privileged to advertise to the members and the members of other Nordic Societies (and family, friends) a new musical by a Swedish composer Hans Jacob Hoeglund in the Upstairs at the Gatehouse theatre in Highgate.

The musical is based on Tove Jansson’s last Moomin story Moominvalley in November, where the Moomins are not present. The musical is described as a gentle, profound and life-affirming meditation on grief, belonging, and quiet resilience.

For the composer the musical is a culmination of having read all the Moomin books at the age of ten, but, as Hans says, as a child he did not understand the depth of the stories. He later found a way back to Moominvalley through Tove Jansson’s truthful writing reflecting the juxtaposition of writing and invented story of non-human characters, but who experience the world as if they were ourselves. He admired Tove Jansson’s work and her trying to be true to her characters and what they were; how they saw the everyday world.

Hans had previous experience of having played the piano in theatre, which became useful in understanding how theatre works. In the process to a musical the snippets of music he had developed in his mind along the years, as well as the lyrics and the final score for the music, were initially in his head ‘in the Nordic Way’, not spelled out but as a subtext from which further developments and understanding would come. This continuing process is also reflected in the final version of the musical and the changes Hans made to the trial show performed earlier this year; the beginning and the end now have a sharpened focus.

Due to the themes mentioned above, the show offers reflection for adults but also according to age guidance is suitable for children 8+ years of age.

Running time is 2 hours, including interval.

Musical website: https://moominvalleymusical.com

There are two performances available with a pre-show talk by Hans Hoeglund to the audience of Anglo-Finnish Society and other Nordic Societies and their guests:

November 2 (Sunday) at 15:00, performance at 16:00
November 4 (Tuesday) at 18:30, performance at 19:30
(The other performance dates are: 23 October – 16 November)

Upstairs at The Gatehouse,
1 North Road,
Highgate, London N6 4BD

Ticket price: £28 (+£1 booking fee)
Box office telephone: 020 8340 3488

Booking Tickets – Upstairs at the Gatehouse