Hi Friends,
I remember the first time I had Swedish cuisine. It was at this delightful Swedish restaurant in Chinatown. As is most wondrous things in New York City, it is no longer in existence. However, I remember enjoying my shrimp and Swedish meatballs as I thought about Miss Julie and Strindberg. At the time, I was working on a monologue from The Stronger and studying naturalism in theatre history. Naturalism was a theatrical movement in Europe at the turn of the 20th century that delved into the truth of a realistic circumstance within a play. Thereby exposing what is considered ugly or real. It was groundbreaking as well as a shock to the theatrical system. Fast forward to today where many works are directed so that the we can so identify with the characters.
I met Olivia Lindqvist who recently moved to New York from Sweden. She is an actress who is studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Of course, I had to know why she moved here to study theatre since there are a handful of theatre companies active there including:
- Riksteatern – National touring Theatre company of Sweden;
- Dramatist Studio of Sweden; The Royal Dramatic Theatre – students include; Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Max von Sydow;
- Norrbottensteatern – first regional theatre; and
- Tyst Teater – theatre in sign language for deaf people).
Olivia says that being an actor in Sweden is all about taking a chance and really trying to become what “you want be in this industry”. Many people do not want to take the risk because theatre is not as big in Sweden as it is here. As a result, you really “need to have something special”. If you are one of the lucky ones to succeed, you have the opportunity to give in a great way. “If you are chosen in Sweden, you know that person is good.” The usual course of action is to enroll in an acting school as well as study other areas including production, film, design and art. They do have festivals and repertory companies but they are on the smaller scale. Olivia says that if actors have big dreams of a theatrical they relocate to New York and other parts of the United States.
It’s been wonderful these last few months to travel vicariously through my friends who have performed across the world. As I mentioned in an earlier article, I would love the opportunity to visit and learn more about theater in other lands. Until then, I leave you with the five companies I listed above and a factoid about the wonderful work they are doing in Sweden
Riksteatern is the biggest theatre company on tour in Sweden and can, in one way, almost be described as Sweden’s national stage on tour. It was established in 1933 and has been on-tour all over Sweden since. The Royal Dramatic Theatre (the national stage) and the Cullberg Ballet, for example, tours regularly with Riksteatern with many of their most popular productions.
Dramatist Studio of Sweden is a Swedish theatre group founded in 1940 with the objective of performing new plays by Swedish and other Scandinavian dramatists. The group was started in 1939 and officially organised in 1942 in Stockholm by the writers Brita von Horn and Vilhelm Moberg and the actor and producer Helge Hagerman. The objective was to counter the carefully neutral dramatic offerings by the official theatres during World War II and encourage playwrights to write drama relevant to contemporary politics.
Norrbottensteatern currently has 49 employees, including 13 artists. Together these produce a varied repertoire of different genres and different types of content, for children, young people and adults, to be played on tour in Norrbotten 14 municipalities as well as in the theater in Luleå. Outreach to children and young people as mandated priority.
Tyst Teater is a Swedish theatre company, since the 1970s part of Riksteatern, that specializes in producing quality theatre in sign language for deaf people.
*Theatre facts are courtesy of Wikipedia and the homepages of the companies as indicated.
Live, Love, Learn,