Rani Kasapi, the head of the International Department at Riksteatern, kindly picks me up from my apartment and gives me a lift to Riksteatern HQ. Riksteatern are based in large premises in the suburb of Hallunder, about half an hour away from Stockholm's city centre. Riksteatern was formed in 1933, with a remit to bring high-quality theatre to everyone in Sweden, reaching an audience of more than 1.2 million every year. A network of producers around the country receive the Riksteatern programme every year, and choose which plays to buy for their local audience. This network means that Riksteatern have a wealth of local knowledge to rely on.
Rani talks about how much the institution has changed over the past few years - with an increasingly diverse focus, and the employment of younger producers with an interest in areas such as the grime scene, street dance, and other urban forms. There's also an increasing attempt to program work for Sweden's migrant communities. They're trying to get away from a departmental structure, so that people within the organisation work together in a more fluid, integrated way. I'm really excited to find flyers for groups I've worked with in Birmingham pinned to the notice board in Rani's office! It seems she also has a relationship with Ulfah Arts, a muslim womens' arts group who were involved in a project I worked on with the Rep, Kali Theatre Company, and Black Country Touring, called A Thin Red Line. She's also in touch with Apples and Snakes, an organisation of performance poets who I worked with as part of These Four Streets, for the Rep. I feel very grown up and international because of this.
I then meet with Lisa Hugoson, the head of the youth and childrens' theatre department. Theatre for young people is incredibly innovative and ground-breaking in Sweden, and this is reflected in Riksteatern's programming. Lisa talks about the diverse range of young people they have to consider. In Stockholm, they may be preoccupied with universal concerns, such as family, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, while in more rural parts of Sweden, a more pressing concern may instead be whether they should continue to hunt wolves!
I have lunch at Riksteatern with Gustav, Lisa, and Anders Duus, the writer in residence who wrote 'Apberget' which I saw at the Angered theatre in Gothenburg. It's great to be able to tell him how much I enjoyed the piece. Anders talks about how difficult it is to establish yourself as a playwright in Sweden. The traditional theatres focus on established works and writers (often dead ones)! Because of this, youth and childrens' theatre is one of the few spaces for new writers to develop work and make a mark for themselves - a route that has served him well.
Next, I have a meeting, back in town, with Rebecka Svensen and Louise Thuren of Kultur Radet, the Swedish Arts Council. I'm quite nervous about meeting such official bigwigs, but they put me at ease straight away. I warm up with a hot chocolate and learn about the funding structures for arts and performance in Sweden. Despite the belief that everyone should have access to a diverse and high-quality cultural life, competition for funding is still fierce, and the economic downturn is even hitting this affluent country. It seems the state theatres have a regular stream of income, but the independent and fringe groups have to apply on a yearly, or three-yearly basis, and their future is never secure (similar to the UK). After a brief discussion about a spooky but compelling sculpture in the foyer, made of a model completely covered in human hair (it looks a little like Cousin It from the Adams Family - but less friendly, somehow. Hang on, did it just move?) I set off to meet Gustav for more theatrical entertainment.
We head off for the state theatre in Stockholm, near Central Station. Monsterkabinettet (Monster Cabinet) is written by Malin Axelsson, who also spent time as a writer in residence at Riksteatern. It's an atmospheric, gothic piece, about a young woman who falls into the role of assistant for a strange writer. He lives alone in a mansion surrounded by portraits of his mother (who come to life, of course). The piece is about female stereotypes, and how a writer has to smash them before she can express herself truthfully, and includes Medusa, Kirke, Salome, Lorena Bobbitt, Britney Spears, and Lynndie England, all living in the basement. It's quite bonkers, but also incredibly ambitious and engaging, and I enjoy the mounting hysteria and the near-hamminess of some of the performances. I certainly can't imagine such insanity being produced on any large British stage.
Afterwards, we take the underground out to a suburb where Malin is working on her next piece - with young, local people, in a community centre. Malin wonders whether this could be seen as 'community theatre', but as she's working with local people, in their space, me and Gustav decide it probably is. It's very much still in development - the use of Twitter for the text has been experimented with, and ultimately abandoned. One of the young people is a martial arts expert, so they're utilising this in some way.
Gustav and I return to Stockholm, and Skanstull, the area I'm staying in. We manage to fit in a couple of beers, and discussion turns to political theatre in the UK and Sweden, and the use of satire on stage. It seems expectations of our politicians in the UK and Sweden are very different, with our expectations being considerably lower. With good reason, many would argue. In Sweden, the career of one politician was scuppered when it was found she bought a bar of chocolate on her expense account. In Britain it's more a case of luxury second homes...
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