And so, just like that, the day we have planned and waited for, for so long, arrived. The reason the three of us speed read Selma Lagerlöf’s novel, Herr Arnes penningar, this week was rewarded, many fold. For this afternoon, we went to the Västanå Theatre and thoroughly enjoyed their production and adaptation of the novel. It was truly a wonderful piece of theatre, presented in the amazing Berättarladan.
The piece was adapted and directed by Leif Stinnerbom. Now, I can’t judge the play on the adaptation given I don’t understand Swedish but the direction was amazing. Like a fairy tale gone wrong, the characters wafted in and out, rocking slightly to the music as lights illuminated them. I thought it was masterful. Hats off to Leif.
I read an article that says the theatre is strapped for cash. I wish them every success with this show and hope it leads to sunnier financial times. They deserve all the praise they get.
For me, though, the most praise, needs to go to Stina Olsson who played the lead, Elsalill. I thought she was superb. Her wide-eyed innocence and mounting despair were perfectly balanced with the tumult going on around her. A perfect performance, I thought.
But, I also have nothing but praise for Edith Nilsson as Elsalill’s dead foster sister. She never stopped swaying, giving the impression of ectoplasm made flesh. I bet she is exhausted after every performance.
The cast was very big, and I can’t find a lot of their names, so I’m only going to mention the dog, Grim. A masterful and delightful performance from the friend of the Sunne baker’s daughter. He was so good, I gave him a pat on the head as we left the theatre.
Actually, it was a nice touch having the cast standing by the big doors as the audience left the theatre. It gave me an opportunity to let Stina Olsson know how much I enjoyed her performance.
Though, while the band was excellent (they played throughout the whole thing, almost like a film score), I agree with Nicoline that they shouldn’t really have had more opportunity for applause than the cast.
We were discussing the play back at the AirBnB accommodation. We were nine at a very loud table. That could have been the fault of the wine, beer, faux Twisties and Aperol.
Along with us and Nicoline, were Birgitta, Maja (who looks remarkably like Meryl Streep), KSP, Jonas and Kistan. Nicoline, Birgitta, Maja and Kistan were together many years ago, formulating political intrigues and trying to make Sweden a better place for the proletariat.
Nicoline gave a lovely speech, discussing friendship and longevity. The night felt like family. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, though I could possibly have managed with a little less red wine.
Naturally, given that KSP was there, the table was evacuated at one stage and everyone took to the verandah floor where vigorous exercise, in the guise of dance, was enacted. Nicoline made me do it while I was leaning against a wall.
Earlier in the day, we’d picked Nicoline up and gone for a scenic drive around Lake Rottnen, just down the road from us. Along with great sweeping views across very cold looking water, we discovered Gräsmarks Hembygdsförening, where old buildings have been rebuilt in a parklike area. While it was slightly ruined with the inclusion of some rather ugly modern buildings, the overall effect was lovely.
Coincidentally, back in 2021, we visited the church at Gräsmark but didn’t keep going around the corner to the open air museum. Today we remedied that and had coffee, weird little sandwiches and, in Jason’s case, a double serving of waffles. We think they had run out of cream because while the waffles were doubled, the cream was clearly a single serving.
Cream apportioning aside, the hembygdsförening was a delightful and unexpected stopover before driving the rest of the way back to our respective accommodations.
Before finishing this entry, I feel I have to mention the election results from the UK yesterday where the government was replaced.
In a not surprising result, the UK electorate saw Labour win in a landslide. Sunak will be getting the removalists in while Starmer redecorates though, I heard on the World Service this morning, his kids aren’t too keen to move in.
In the meanwhilst, Clacton elected the once laziest member of the European Parliament, Nigel Farage. Unsurprisingly, Clacton also voted Leave in the Brexit referendum, deciding by a massive 71% they didn’t want to be part of the biggest trading bloc in the world. Surprisingly, all the racists haven’t died off. They clearly didn’t mind a Reform party person calling Rishi Sunak a fucking P*** on British TV.
I predict very little change in the UK. To highlight that, it’s not that surprising that our old, yet newly formed constituency in Farnham, persisted with a Tory MP. And the ex-chancellor, Jeremy Hunt was re-elected. It’s all a bit sad, really.
I’m going to finish with a happy photo rather than leave this entry on such a depressing, political note.
Mirinda reckons this little chap looks like me. I beg to differ. I have never worn a pair of overalls like that, in my life.
