“There are poisons that destroy the sight and poisons that open the eyes” Strindberg

Many years ago I attended a lecture of writing for film, given by Michael Eaton, as part of the MA in Playwriting studies in Birmingham. One of the excellent pieces of advice he gave the playwriting students was to, “ensure you send your characters into a liminal zone; a place they do not know, either geographically or emotionally; better if both.”

From Novermber 10th -21st 2008 I spent two weeks in Stockholm, Sweden, attending a conference, HOW SOON IS NOW? THE POLITICS OF INTERCULTURE, attending Riksteatern’s Theatre Festival, seeing many plays and meeting with people from the main theatres and radio stations. During this time I was asked, by Script, to keep a journal of my experiences.

Monday: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

So, 4.30pm Stockholm Central. First impressions; It is dark by half past three from November through to February. As a result of living in semi-darkness the city is big on lights; shop windows with pretty lamps, big, brightly lit bill-boards and the windows of houses and apartments are tastefully decked with candles or Christmas lights. The city is fast, but people seem relaxed and friendly. It is a short ride to my apartment .

Later that evening Gustav Tengby (Dramaturg at Riksteatern) took me to a fabulous Indian restaurant, where he talked animatedly about this role at Riksteatern (the national touring theatre company based in an enormous theatre building, in Hollunda, about an hour from Stockholm). He talked about many productions, people and places. There appears to be a very healthy touring theatre scene - over 300 venues choosing to receive any of the 60 shows being made at Riksteatern per year. Children’s theatre is thriving. A lot of time spent developing relationships with audiences . I am excited to learn about a touring-dance show you can book to come and perform in your own living-room. Radio is thriving here and also there are many children’s radio plays, particularly at Christmas, when from the beginning of December to Christmas day there is a specially commissioned play made to run throughout advent.


Tuesday: THEATRE FOR CHILDREN

At nine the following morning there is a show at Leojonkulan, Young Dramaten, (Lion’s Den, the children’s theatre), situated in the bowels of the Dramaten (National Theatre). The production was, LOVE OCH CIRKUSFAGLARNA (LOVE AND THE CIRCUS BIRDS). A somewhat bizarre, but enchanting play about a boy who runs away from home and locks himself in a launderette. To stop himself from feeling lonely he conjures two circus birds from his imagination and the three play and work through the boy’s issues with his bossy parents. (The parents are represented by a tiny little house which lights up and their disembodied voices float through the theatre - the kids loved it). The production is, of course, in Swedish. Quickly I established that when two people are on stage it is easy to interpret the action/intention of a scene. Monologues are tougher!

The production was followed by a meeting with the lovely Sven Hugo Persson, Dramaturg, at the National Theatre. He spoke about the current struggles facing big theatres; how to attract new audiences, how to keep the current audience. He also spoke about the growing importance of celebrity status in Sweden and how the theatres are responding to the audience’s need for big names in their productions.

Wednesday: HOW SOON IS NOW?

An incredible two-day conference held at the Sodra theatre. (So much happened during this time, for now I will note the highlights and perhaps add more later). The event was opened by the Swedish Minister for Culture, Lena Adelsohn. She spoke about how, “ we now live and act both internationally and interculturally at the same time.” Adding, “everyone has a right to culture.”

This was followed by a Nordic working group (Trevor Davies from International Theatre/Arhus and Shanti Brahmachari from Skuespillersenter, Norway) presenting their findings from other conferences in Copenhagen and Oslo. They spoke about how people had started to embrace the fact their society was transformed forever and their guest-workers, who had arrived in the nineties wouldn’t be going home. (This felt a very dated attitude to people from outside Sweden). This posed both challenges and opportunities to Nordic societies. Principally the working group stated the cultural right s for Nordic citizens had not been fully realised and that it didn’t yet, reflect the Nordic society in all it’s reality and complexity.

Several strategies needed to be implemented to ensure this changed. First, there needs to be a sustainable organisation (the working group have just lost their funding) to help maintain and develop cultural traditions. Lack of understanding needs to be addressed through education. To develop the 3 T’s - Talent, Tolerance and Technology. And the need to note, “change happens from the periphery, not from the inside.” The working group spoke of the sort of work they would like to see in the city.

We then watched three examples of best practise from Selam theatre company (from Sweden),
Tabanka Crew a dance company, (from Norway) and Contact, a theatre company (from Denmark). All of the examples given were excellent.

At lunch I spoke to Thomas Presto, from Tabanka. He was fantastically positive about the work his company were producing and talked about how each dance group will work on a pyramid structure - the leader of a project will be a professional, then there will be people within the group who have some experience and then some who are keen and have talent but little or new experience. He said working in this way had resulted in several new companies being formed. I liked his inclusive approach. His only frustration was, as any small company will know, was funding. He was frustrated with huge slices of funding always going to the bigger companies. (On the way home I reflected on why, if this was, “exactly the sort of work ,“the working group were looking for, didn’t the bigger theatres link up with these three companies and work on collaborative projects).

In the evening all of the delegates went to see MOT VAGGEN (HEAD ON - Riksteatern).
The play is a passionate love story. The show is based on Faith Akin’s awarded film Head-On and brilliantly directed by Dritero Kasapi.

Thursday: WHERE ARE OUR CITIES?

During the second day of the conference we broke into groups and discussed the future of Stockholm. People spoke about the need different for cultures to interact, to have a better understanding of each other. (The group all happily, and embarrassingly, switched to speak in English). We discussed finding common spaces and various projects to link the cities citizens. We also discussed how the technology is leading to us having virtual cities on our lap tops - we talk online but not to our neighbour.

After we had all re-grouped and discussed our various findings a young woman stood up and said to the academic, (mature, white man) who had been leading the conference, “if you want to have a proper conversation about culture, why are you using so many big words I don’t understand? You have to speak in a language that everyone gets. ” There was also a request to open the conference to a wider group of people.

Associated links:
WWW.labforculture.org
(please note the Rainbow paper and Chris Torch).

Friday: TEATERAGARNA 2008

So, no sooner had one conference finished, a theatre festival begins. Teateragarna is the annual festival held at Riksteatern. There are numerous of events being held at the same time. Each person is given a timetable. My day started watching Cullberbalettern, an open ballet rehearsal. This was fantastic. Ten incredible dancers and of course, the ease of understanding a story through movement, not dialogue.

Then I attended a seminar called, Great Britain Today . The seminar was given by Mukhtar Dar from The Drum in Birmingham. Mukhtar showed examples of the work at his theatre and discussed projects his company were involved in schools. Knife attacks and gangs were high on his agenda. I spoke with him afterwards and joked about how ludicrous it was to come all these miles to learn, in detail, about an organisation less than five miles from where I live.

Then, no time to waste: KNIF a one-woman show. This was wacky and manic glimpse into a teenage girl’s bedroom. Ms Spears would be proud. For my money, it was a little longer than it needed to be, although the actor was so crazy (and precise while within her craziness) she became mesmerising.

The evening quickly arrived and it was time to see, LA MEMOIRE D ANNA POLITOVSKAIA
Bleak? Yes. Haunting? Yes. Brilliantly acted? Yes. Bit more bleakness? Yes, yes, yes. I struggled with this play more than any other. A cast of around 15. I could see there was a strong central story; a husband who sold his wife into prostitution and a sub-plot about a colonel who befriended a child to make up for the absence left by his dead wife, but there was lots more going on and I couldn’t grasp it. At this time I was incredibly tired too. Afterwards there was a general feeling everyone seemed to admire the writer but everyone wanted to be released from the gloom.

Saturday: WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN

A nine o clock seminar; Communityteater, vad ar det? (Community Theatre, what is that?) This was held in Swedish, therefore I was thrilled it was at the beginning of the day and I was fresh and ready to concentrate. I understood more than anticipated and met some amazing people who are working in this field. (More later). Community theatre is new to Sweden; it is just beginning to grow. Discussions are starting to bubble about the difference between professional actors and community actors and why the differentiation matters. I managed to chip in at this point and talk about Jon Oram, a community theatre director who is based in Kent. After directing over 30 community plays, Jon has developed the notion of the social actor. We also discussed how you share stories and ownership of the finished work.

The highlight, in terms of stages plays, came at lunchtime. Die Buhne & Folkteatern presented NORDOST. The play is three compelling and brilliantly performed and staged monologues about the Moscow theatre siege, from the point of view of three women who were inside.
Associated link:
www.folkteatern.se

HOME NOT HOME (Riksteatern). Was a seminar to discuss Sweden’s contribution to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. The project attempted to seek to define “home” in times marked by mobility and migration. MOT VAGGEN was part of this work. Also associated to this project was a video installation, SEE ME! The project was a series of interviews with woman who had suffered domestic abuse.
Associated link:
www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu

Saturday night was capped with Ibsen’s WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN (Unity Theatre Liverpool). “While in the mountains, amidst the silence and the desperate need to escape the characters, finally, through the snow and mist, wake up and seize the life that could be theirs.” With Richard Pickavance and Susanne Gunnerson. Directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo. I enjoyed the play more than the production.; it felt a bit too flimsy for my liking. However, Robert Pickavance was glorious and to hear vast swathes of Enghlish was soothing to my exhausted ears.
This was just a selection of the work being displayed. Other work included: BAGHDAD BURNING, RACHEL CORRIE, SUGAR SPIN and DEAFHOOD. (RIK has a Silent Theatre for deaf actors).

The evening was spent drinking and talking to many people about the previous two days viewing. There was a real buzz about NORDOST.

SUNDAY: TIME TO REST
Did little except sleep, walk, write and reflect an sleep some more.

Monday: WHOSE STORY IS IT?

I woke feeling as though I had aught up with myself and finally arrived; I knew where everything was and how it worked in my apartment, I understood the tube, I knew the layout of the city and I had the opening and closing times of the local supermarkets sorted. (You can’t buy alcohol after seven in the evening).
I had a gorgeous lunch with the inspirational Marcus Lindeen, (potential Mad Hatter) director and dramatist who specialises in documentary drama. He talked interestingly about a stage/documentary play about two men who had a sex change and regretted it. REGRETTERS has toured and has been translated into several languages. I have worked a lot using material taken from interviews and we had a very good debate about ownerships of the story and the right to edit and how that impacts on the original tale. He recommended that I looked at a book by Rimini Protokoll, (who dramatised Karl Marx’s Das Kaptial) called, Experts of the Everyday.

Tuesday: NEW IDEAS TO ATTRACT NEW AUDIENCES

I decided to walk to the radio station. It took about an hour and a half; through the main street, through the outskirts of old town, along the water front and into the huge building that is Radio House. There I met with Elizabeth Lagerstedt and Eric Nybaeus, producers of Swedish Radio. They took me on a tour of their studios where we managed to meet a director and his team who are currently editing Anna Karenina. Swedish radio is thriving, exciting and daring. Their production schedules are fabulous - having up to two weeks to record a 60 minute play and then four weeks to edit. Currently they are producing adaptations of classics, half-hour contemporary plays and erotic plays for late on Saturday nights . They also have a department dedicated to making children’s plays.

Then a snowy train ride north of Stockholm to Uppsalla. At three I met with Marie Persson Hedenius, dramaturg at Uppsala Theatre. We were supposed to talk for an hour. Three hours later we were still discussing ways of collaborating, perhaps linking Birmingham and Uppsalla. We then went to see a preview of their new play, RIGOLETTO/DJURISK ATRA. The play tells the taleof Rigoletto and Freudian conversations are mixed in. The set is white, as are the costumes. One woman is virtually naked and covers herself in oil. They talk of pornography being a good thing and give the audience gifts of pornographic images. The play was well performed and with humour and masses of pathos and is supposed to be new and daring and yet somehow it felt dated. We’ve seen all this before. It would have been interesting to have talked to the actors afterwards to see how comfortable they felt with the so-called contemporary message of the play.



Wednesday: THEATRE FOR CHILDREN IS AS IMPORTANT AS THEATRE FOR ADULTS

Gustav, the White Rabbit, had returned from his trip to Copenhagen. It was lovely to see him again. After a debrief, it was time for a meeting with Lisa Hugoson and Mia Larsson who are running the Theatre for Young People at Riksteatern. They tour about 12 shows a year. Their department is thriving and has a writer in residence who has spent the past two years working on a collaboration with some local school children. They showed me a map of Sweden and identified the different regions/audiences. They talked about a show that had done well there, the title translated into Fanny and Dick. The play explored the human body and the changes that occur. They tried to bring the play to the UK. One school attended a performance and the teachers were shocked and alarmed. Naked bodies! The next day no schools came to the performance. Come on UK!

In the afternoon I met for hot chocolate in the market with America Vera Zevala - Botkyrka Community Theatre. A kindred spirit. Straight away we suspect a lasting friendship will grow. America is currently working on a community play based on a Swedish mill town. She has spent the past two years interviewing and putting the play together. She very politically active and has written books about the Swedish miners strike of 1969. She had another meeting to attend, but invited me for dinner the following evening. As she was leaving she announced following dinner we would “drink in the bar with the best view in town.” Sounded good to me.

Thursday: LET US GET ON WITH CREATING

A reading of a play for children written by Milan Axelsson. The children have been working on the script with her for two years. A team of actors read the play and the children listened and then gave feedback. The kids then showed us a piece of theatre they had made for the actors. Milan said this would be the last project of its kind, due to funding cuts. This is a pity as it was glorious to see kids buzzing with new ideas and not for the first time, found myself envious of the time allocated to a project.

In the evening I met with Jasenko Selimovic, head of Swedish radio. I had met Jasenko some years ago when he was the artistic director of the Gutenberg theatre. It was lovely to see him again. We went to a bar and talked in more depth about radio and his vision. He talked about programmes which will be aired next year, including 14 plays from different countries as part of a series about Europe. He asked me what I had noted from my time in Stockholm. It felt too soon to be having that conversation and I also said my time had been spent in a very specific way with a select group of people - we all think in pretty much the same way - theatre is great, we need more money, how can we be original, how can we tackle the new audience issue, why do we want to tell this story., who is it for.

Dinner at America’s was lovely; high on the prospect of having survived the two weeks without getting lost or missing a meeting, it was heavenly to spend some time in a home; with a sofa and a kettle. We watched a debate programme, which was hosted by her partner, (discussing adoption laws and homes for the elderly) and at eleven o clock we made our way through the snow and up to the bar with the best view in Stockholm.

Friday:

An incredible two weeks. So many new ideas, so many new conversations, so many cups of tea.
A huge thank you to everyone involved with this project and to everyone who took the time to meet with me. Particular thanks to Gustav Tegby, for being so considerate and patient.

On my way to the station it struck me the tube map looks like a relaxed person (red line) sitting in a chair (green line) reading a newspaper (blue line). That, perhaps, will be my lasting impression of the people in Stockholm.

“I dream, therefore I am.” Stindberg