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THEATER IN STOCKHOLM For an American who comes from a metropolitan center fairly comparable, population-wise, to Greater Stockholm with its more than a million inhabitants, the Stockholm theaters are always amazing.and delightful. For, as Theater in Sweden (Wadd Theatre, Vol. IV, New York, 1955) has made amply clear, Sweden is as Close to being a paradise for those interested in drama and theater as any country has ever been in modern times, and Stockholm, both the capital and the largest city, is the center of theatrical activity that extends throughout all of Sweden. Personal observation during attendance at performances of most of the many plays presented in Stockholm and its suburbs during five months of the 1957- 1958 season confinm earlier impressions of the tremendous opportunities for Stockholmers and visitors . to see good plays, both Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian; productions imaginatively designed and effectively executed; an amazingly good and even level of acting by actors and actresses who usually have been trained in either the schools attached to the noyal Dramatic Theater or various city theaters elsewhere or in private schools; a large and dignified body of faithful theater goers; and, what impresses this American at least, the conviction on the part of Swedes, officials and non-officials, that theater is a vital part of the Swedish way of life. It is difficult to say how many legitimate theaters there are in Stockholm . Although many Stockhohners say there are tw.elve, it soon becomes clear to the visitor that remarkably good productions are put on in locales that are not among the twelve the Stockholmer has in mind. The five months would have been decidedly disappointing for anyone who was particularly interested in seeing native Swedish plays if he had been confined to the productions at the twelve. During the regular season the Stockhohn theaters have neglected Sweden's greatest playwright, August Strindberg, in an almost unbelievable fashion. To be sure, the Royal Dramatic Theater has put on three of his plays, the major work Creditors (Fordringsiigare) with such able actors as Ulf Palme, Olaf Widgren, and Eva Dahlbeck in the roles of Gustaf, Adolf, and Tckla respectively. Sharing the bill with Creditors have been, alternately, the relatively unimportant Playing with Fire and Pariah. The only other Strindberg play one could see through any medium was Easter (Pdsk), which Sweden's nadio put on on TV on Good Friday. When the Royal Dramatic Theater this spring celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of its present building , it did not do so by putting on a memorable production of a Strindberg play but by means of a competent production of Moliere's Don 125 126 WALTER GILBERT JOHNSON September Iuan. To all admi.rers of Strindberg (and there is an appal'ently increasing number of them among the descendants of the Swedes wHom he fascinated or repelled before his death in 1912), it must have seemed very strange that Master Olaf, which had been the brilliant opening production in 1908, or some other major Strindberg play was not chosen. That the Royal Opera put on Birgit Cullberg's ballet version of Strindberg's Miss JuUe (Froken Julie) from time to time with Elsa :Mariann von Rosen brilliantly performing the role of Julie was slight compensation for anyone who would assume that he would have tile chance to see productions of some of Strindberg~s great expressionistic or historical plays in the playwright's native city. The Royal Dramatic Theater did not entirely neglect Swedish drama; it put on the Swedish translation of a British dramatization of Hja1mar Bergman's Grandmother and Our Lord (Fannor och Velr Herre), memorable mainly because of the fascinating qualities of anything that ultimately stems from Hjalmar Bergman's mind and because of the superb acting of Tora Teje as grandmother. Furthemlore, the royal theater did revive Carl Jonas Love Almquist's romantic The Q1f.een~s ,Tim'a or Azottras Lazuli Tintomara (Drottningens fuvelsmycke ) on the little stage (Lilla scenen) in what was without question the most brilliant tileatrical production in Stockholm during the five months. Combining skill and imagination in direction, staging, and acting, The Queen's Tiara not only indicates what...

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