Ecodramaturgy and Artistic Expressions in Riksteatern's Productions Polarfararna (2018), Slutet enligt Rut (2018) and Nationalparken (2019)

2023. Sandra Grehn.

Conference

Ecology describes the intertwined relationships in our world and includes the study of animals and plants and how we as humans relate to each other, our surroundings, and the more-than-human (Giannachi & Stewart 2005; Woynarski 2020). Ecodramaturgy describes theatre and performance that places ecological reciprocity and community at the centre of its artistic and thematic content (Arons & May 2012:4). Lisa Woynarski uses the term to deal with meaning-making concerning ecology in all theatre and performance forms, themes, processes, and narratives and thus potentially as a strategy to subvert dominant forms of representation that often devalue the more-than-human world (Woynarski 2020). Ecological theatre, thus, does something and can potentially problematize relations to the more-than-human (Woynarski 2020).

In Sweden, a few important ecocritical theatre initiatives have been run by Riksteatern - Sweden's largest touring theatre since 1933. In the Human and Nature project (2017–2020), Riksteatern investigated climate, lifestyle, and nature/culture issues. In 2017, the production Polarfararna was played, directed by Åsa Johannisson, an absurd disaster drama about an expedition to the North Pole in 2016. In 2018, the production Slutet enligt Rut was played, directed by Nora Nilsson, a comedy about inheritance and desire where Rut, who has reached the age of 112, refuses to die so that the forest she leaves behind will live undisturbed. In Nationalparken (2019), directed by Lisa Färnström, the old-growth forest is a metaphor for diversity and becomes a tribute to thousands of ways of life. This paper focuses on the following questions: What ecodramaturgical strategies can be found in the three performances? In what ways do the performances examine man’s relationship to the more-than-human? What role do forests and landscapes play in the three performances, and what dramaturgical significance do they have?

Det gömda barnet i papperslöshet: Dekoloniserande teaterpraktiker i Backa Teaters uppsättning Rött kort

2022. Sandra Grehn. Berätta, överleva, inte drunkna, 279-296

Chapter

Techformance – shifting centres by performance practices with the young audience as co-creator

2022. Sandra Grehn.

Conference

Since 2019, a project has been run by the Administration for Cultural Development in Västra Götaland (Sweden), where the working method Techformance is developed to offer professional theatre for young audiences with new opportunities to create interactive performing arts. Within the framework of the project, a digital web application is being developed to give the encounter with theatre a new form and significance for children and young people, with or without neuropsychiatric disabilities. Five Swedish performing arts groups (Teater Jaguar, Masthuggsteatern, Unga Klara, Bombina Bombast, and Angereds Teater) have explored the tools through workshops and performances.

The Techformance method connects to the genre of immersive theatre (Machon 2017) and thus explores and develops the theatres' potential to meet an audience in new ways where the performance is not just an event in one space but rather consists of a relationship and interaction between audience and ensemble in an ongoing process. The method challenges the current audience contract and invites a long-term sustainable co-creation and audience relationship (Gadotti 2009). The audience's active participation via digital tools is a prerequisite for the performances to develop and offers a clear framework where children, with or without neuropsychiatric disabilities, can be part of the theatre performance before, after, and in the meeting with the ensemble. By this, the audience position is being challenged and gives new ways of perceiving the point of departure when playing for young audiences. The paper focuses on the following research questions: How are the digital tools in the Techformance method used in professional theatre for young audiences, and how do they challenge the audience position? How can the design of the tools function as resources for a young audience with or without neuropsychiatric disabilities? How does the Techformance method develop immersive theatre and rethink the concept of theatre for young audiences?

Social Sustainability and Backa Theatre’s Staging of Red Card (2014)

2021. Sandra Grehn.

Conference

In the autumn of 2014, the production Red Card (Rött kort) premiered at Backa Theatre in Gothenburg, Sweden, directed by Gabriela Pichler. Backa Theatre is part of The Gothenburg Civic Theatre, mainly playing for children and young people. The production was based on 11-year-old Leo’s lived experiences as a hidden and undocumented migrant in Sweden and was a collaboration with the playwright America Vera-Zavala and Botkyrka Community Theatre & Dance. The actor Rasmus Lindgren and Leo himself were on stage.

The metaphor of football and Leo’s bodily experiences of being an undocumented and hidden child in Sweden was a recurring element in the staging. By taking this place, Leo shares a story that seldom is told in Swedish cultural life, despite the national discourse about Sweden as a country at the forefront of children’s rights. The staging raises questions about children's civil rights and how belonging to a community is a fundamental part of a sustainable world. Red Card challenges the idea of citizenship connected to space and presents Leo as a citizen in his own right despite not having formal Swedish citizenship.

By combining semiotic performance analysis with critical discourse analysis, my paper presents an analysis of a filmed performance of Red Card, focusing on the following research questions: By what means does the production stage the life of an undocumented child in Sweden in the 2010s? What discourses concerning the undocumented child are staged, and how do they relate to contemporary dominant discourses? What significance is created in the form of Leo himself being on stage, and what difficulties does this entail? How and by what means does the staging relate to ideas of social sustainability, focusing on Leo’s experiences as an undocumented child living in Sweden?

Utopian Citizenship and Backa Theatre's Staging of Rött kort (2014)

2021. Sandra Grehn.

Conference

In the autumn of 2014, the production Rött kort (Red Card) premiered at Backa Theater in Gothenburg, directed by Gabriela Pichler. Backa Theater is part of Gothenburg Civic Theater, playing for children and young people. The production was based on 11-year-old Leo's lived experiences as hidden and undocumented in Sweden and was also a collaboration with the playwright America Vera-Zavala and Botkyrka Community Theater & Dance. On stage were the actor Rasmus Lindgren and Leo himself. The metaphor of football and Leo's bodily experiences of being undocumented and hidden were a recurring element in the staging. By taking this place, Leo shares a story that seldom is told in Swedish cultural life, despite the national discourse about Sweden as a country at the forefront of children's rights. Performing arts with undocumented children on stage is unusual in Sweden and in this way the staging connects, among others, to Jill Dolan's notion of the utopian when ideas about children's civil rights are problematized and staged. Rött kort shows examples of utopian ideas about children as citizens in their own right. By combining semiotic performance analysis with critical discourse analysis, I analyze a filmed performance of Rött kort where I focus on the following research questions: How does the staging tell about living as an undocumented child in Sweden in the 2010s and by what means? What discourses concerning the undocumented child are staged, and how do they relate to contemporary dominant discourses? What significance is created in the form of Leo himself being on stage, and what difficulties does this entail? How and by what means does the staging become decolonial or utopian when focusing on Leo's experiences as an undocumented child, living in Sweden?

Sandra GrehnDirector of studies, senior lecturer

Publications

Ecodramaturgy and Artistic Expressions in Riksteatern's Productions Polarfararna (2018), Slutet enligt Rut (2018) and Nationalparken (2019)

Det gömda barnet i papperslöshet: Dekoloniserande teaterpraktiker i Backa Teaters uppsättning Rött kort

Techformance – shifting centres by performance practices with the young audience as co-creator

Social Sustainability and Backa Theatre’s Staging of Red Card (2014)

Utopian Citizenship and Backa Theatre's Staging of Rött kort (2014)