Continuing the authentic Swedish summer experience, I went to Gamla Linköping to watch an open air performance of Moliere’s ‘The Miser’….. in torrential rain. I managed to get a seat under a tree, so got away with only getting damp as opposed to drenched.
I’m really glad I went, as the production was excellent – Most of the parts were performed by the older (18 to 20something old) members of the local youth theatre and the Miser was played brilliantly by Håkan Bäck who is one of the driving forces behind Linköping’s only independent professional theatre company. The physical comedy was full of energy and Moliere would have been proud of the audience interaction.
I read/watched The Miser years ago when I was doing French A-Level, but it was strange watching it again in Swedish. The performance was a condensed and Swedified version, meaning that the whole show lasted around an hour and that all the names of the characters were changed to Swedish names - Harpagon became Falkenberg, for example.
It was also a chance to watch a guy called Johan Salberg, who played The Miser’s son (Cleante in the original… can’t remember what they called him in Swedish??). He has performed a short stand up slot at my club in the past and is going to do another in the autumn. It was nice to watch him doing some theatre as he has a lot of presence onstage and the production suited his style of performance.
Talking of stand up … I’ve almost got enough headliners to fill the autumn season, including Henrik Elmer, Zeid Andersson and Anders Celin… I’m going to start allocating dates next week, but it’s reassuring to know that the line up will be strong.
Just to whet the appetite… here’s a short film from Anders Celin
Tags: Comedy, Linköping
