{"id":484,"date":"2020-05-03T15:18:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T15:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/?p=484"},"modified":"2022-02-05T13:04:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T13:04:15","slug":"sweden-the-future-uncertain-within-the-independent-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/sweden-the-future-uncertain-within-the-independent-field\/","title":{"rendered":"SWEDEN: The Future Uncertain within the Independent Field"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Theresa Bener<\/strong><a href=\"#end\" name=\"back\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The world observes, with a certain amount of disbelief, how Sweden has refrained from draconian measures to stop collective assemblies in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not until the end of March did the government restrict public gatherings to a maximum of 50 people. All the major Swedish performing arts institutions did, however, cancel shows by mid-March. They were rapidly followed by independent theatres, although these would be playing to smaller auditoriums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"video1\">Video1<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sp&amp;ouml;ksonaten\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/399897695?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>From Dramaten Play, August Strindberg\u2019s <em>The Ghost Sonata<\/em>, directed by Premio Europa winner Mats Ek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The performing arts in Sweden have, consequently, been hit severely by the coronavirus crisis. All four national and 32 city\/regional theatres have cancelled the remainder of the season. The Royal Dramatic Theatre, which hosts the international Bergman Festival (which was due in late summer 2020), will invite shows from abroad to be spread across the entire 2020\/21 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/3.Serotonin_0642_Credit_Soren_Vilks.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-594\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/3.Serotonin_0642_Credit_Soren_Vilks.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/3.Serotonin_0642_Credit_Soren_Vilks-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/3.Serotonin_0642_Credit_Soren_Vilks-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Sven Ahlstr\u00f6m in Michel Houellebecq\u2019s <em>Serotonin<\/em>, 2020 at the Stockholm City theatre. Photo: S\u00f6ren Vilks<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The national institutions have launched digital platforms, <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dramaten.se\/play\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dramaten Play<\/a><\/em>, <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.operanplay.se\" target=\"_blank\">Operanplay<\/a><\/em>, <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ungaklara.se\/unga-klara-on-demand\" target=\"_blank\">Unga Klara on demand<\/a><\/em> and <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riksteatern.se\/riksteatern-play\" target=\"_blank\">Riksteatern Play<\/a><\/em> with captions of productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"video-2\">Video 2<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"F&amp;ouml;r att jag s&amp;auml;ger det - Unga Klara\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/374625457?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>From Unga Klara on demand, <em>Because I say so<\/em>, for children, directed by Farnaz Arbabi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The city theatre of Stockholm premiered a new production online; Michel Houellebecq\u2019s <em>Serotonine <\/em>adapted as a monologue. Meanwhile, the city theatres in Gothenburg and <em>Malm\u00f6<\/em> stay in touch with their audiences via video recorded performances and greetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The independent groups are going through a challenging phase. They are at a complete standstill, with a great number of freelance workers or self-employed artists currently left without income. The government has offered an emergency aid of 500 million SEK (\u20ac 47 million) to cover for losses within the entire arts sector. Individual artists, creative teams and event organisers are invited to apply for support in compensation of cancelled shows, concerts or art exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Iraqi-Christ.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Iraqi-Christ.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Iraqi-Christ-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Iraqi-Christ-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Just before lockdown the Galeasen theatre premiered a new play by Lucas Svensson, <em>Iraqi Christ<\/em>. Photo: Jens Sethzman<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Swedish section of the IATC has called the culture ministry\u2019s attention to the dire consequences for our members, most of whom are freelance writers, left without paid assignments. It remains obvious, however, that the main loss within the performing arts sector concerns planned projects that will never happen, which are not covered by the government\u2019s current support package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fierce debate broke out in Stockholm, where the city council proposed aid of 20 million SEK (\u20ac 1.8 million Euros) to help independent groups deprived of revenue from rent and ticket sales. But the money was in fact redistributed from the existing project funding allowance. The corporate organisations claimed furiously that, without any project funds to apply for in 2020, they would be unable to create new artistic content, leading to an even longer, riskier absence from public performance. Instead, they advocated the \u201cBerlin model,\u201d whereby artists would receive a cash aid from new endowments to keep them afloat for a few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, while the publicly funded performing arts institutions in Sweden may survive this crisis, the future seems uncertain within the independent field, which will, in turn, have an impact upon the public theatre.<a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Theresa_Bener-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-595\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><strong>Theresa Bener <\/strong>is a theatre critic, specialising in contemporary European theatre. She is President of the Swedish section of IATC, Svenska Teaterkritikers F\u00f6rening. Website: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theresabener.se\" target=\"_blank\">www.theresabener.se<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Copyright <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> 2020 Theresa Bener<br><em>Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/88x31.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons Attribution International License\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This work is licensed under the<br>Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":478,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/taiwan\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":0},"title":"TAIWAN: Crisis or Chance: Theatre in Difficult Times","author":"Theresa Bener","date":"May 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hung Tzi Yu* On January 21, 2020 two days before China locked down Wuhan, a Taiwanese passenger arriving from the city tested positive for COVID-19. Later that week, Taiwan imposed entry restrictions on visitors from China\u2019s Hubei Province and subsequently expanded it to all Chinese nationals. By the end of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Covid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-tw-400.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":515,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/latvia-all-the-worlds-a-screen\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":1},"title":"LATVIA: All the World\u2019s a Screen","author":"Theresa Bener","date":"May 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Lauma Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da* The year 2020 is probably the strangest year in the world of the performing arts in our (young) century. The Covid-19 pandemic and the related social distancing requirements closed all theatres and forced everyone to move to digital platforms. Unlike many other countries in Europe, Latvia did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Covid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Covid","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/covid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/flag-lat-400.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":460,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/hong-kong-our-passion-will-go-on-even-if-the-shows-cannot\/","url_meta":{"origin":484,"position":2},"title":"HONG KONG: Our Passion Will Go On, Even If the Shows Cannot","author":"Theresa Bener","date":"May 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Bernice Chan* To show or not to show, that becomes real the question for all theatre practitioners around the world. 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Moreover, the greatest theatres, such as Col\u00f3n Theatre and Nacional Cervantes Theatre, are keeping their workshops working fully. 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