Sweden

“In Sweden, they say they don’t need social distancing, because being Swedish is all about that”, said the writer Pedro Mexia, who has long been fascinated by that Scandinavian country. In Sweden – his first work for the stage – he explores the suspicion that all of us have “a certain idea” of Sweden. A diffuse mythology, so to speak: the “metaphysical-anguished” country of Bergman’s filmography, the (lost?) paradise of social democracy, but also the homeland of fiendish Strindberg or sugary ABBA. The play takes us to the aftermath of the September 1976 elections, which marked the end of half a century of Swedish Social Democratic Party rule. The elections coincide with the marriage of Monika, the daughter of Egerman, a bitter, sexagenarian, “withdrawn-from-the-world” intellectual, who does not conceal his satisfaction with the political change. Directed by Nuno Cardoso, artistic director of the TNSJ, Sweden is a place where the idea of future, the end of illusions and good intentions are all under debate. A place where the boundary lines between public and private, political and intimate become blurred.

Photos: TUNA_TNSJ