A Theater That Is National

A THEATER THAT IS NATIONAL WHILE THE TERM NATIONAL THEATER has been used for a long time in various countries as the name of the nationally subsidized major theater in the national capital, the idea of a theater that will serve a whole nation instead of a segment of it is being realized in Sweden. For Riksteatem is what its name implies-the national theater or the theater for a whole nation. Such a theater conceived in the depths of the world-wide depression in 1933 and successfully developed over the past twenty-five years in a country with less than eight million inhabitants should warrant study by non-Swedes, not least by theater-minded people in our own country where interesting attempts were made by way of federal theater projects during the depression. In 1933, the situation of the Swedish theater was not appreciably different from that of the American theater. The vast majority of both American and Swedish cities, large and small, had theater buildings adequately equipped for staging plays. Into the twenties private touring companies had supplied audiences in these cities with at least a minimum of theater. Privately owned companies and privately organized tours were the rule in both countries. But as every theaterminded person old enough to remember knows, the 1920's were marked by a decided decrease in the number of tours. The depression threatened to kill theatrical activity in America and, aside from the nationally subsidized Royal Dramatic Theater and the Royal Opera in Stockholm, in Sweden. Twenty-five years later, the situations in the two countries are remarkably different. In the United States the colleges and the universities are probably doing the most significant work in theater; in almost innumerable cities and towns, the professional theaters have either been closed, converted into movie houses, or otherwise disposed of. But in Sweden the theater is flourishing as never before. When Arthur Engberg, the minister of education and ecclesiastical affairs, in 1933 proposed the founding of a nationally subsidized nation-wide theater which would eventually bring good dramatic entertainment to his whole country, he could do so with the conviction that his countrymen, with relatively few exceptions, would take the proposal seriously and not as a harebrained scheme of an impractical enthusiast interested in a matter of trifling consequence to the national way of life. Occupying the key position in the educational system of a country in which education is'not only universally respected but also among the most thorough in the world, and in which the benefits of democracy were being made increasingly available to all its people, Mr. Engberg could count on serious consideration of his proposal, fairly 192 1958 A THEATER THAT Is NATIONAL 193 general appreciation ofthe cultural value ofthe theater and of the drama, and a general willingness to do something tangible about a cultural matter even in the depths of a depression. The proposal was accepted. The development of the theater over the past twenty-five years may be said to reflect typically Swedish cooperation, faith in an idea, and both practical and imaginative working away at its gradual realization in terms that would benefit an ever-increasing number of Swedes but that would, at the same time, be within the possibilities of attainment. Like many other Swedish government activities, the Riksteater was organized with care from the beginning with provisions made for adjustments when needed. Set up as an association of local theatrical societies throughout the whole country, Riksteatem is governed by an executive board and the director of the theater, whom the executive board appoints. The national government appoints three of the members of the board, but the other five are elected by the congress of local societies which meets in Stockholm every other year. The congress represents the theater-going public; its consensus freely and openly expressed about every aspect of the national theater's activities-from, say, repertoires to financing-is invariably influential on the policies of the executive board and the director. An examination of many of the available records of the theater during its first twenty-five years reveals, among other things, the important role played by its first director, Dr. COsta...