"The Cat’s Journey" and "The Girl, the Mother and the Rubbish" are two of the Swedish attractions at the Unicorn Theatre.

In Sweden, state-funded institutions are expected to provide a vibrant theatrical experience for children as well as adults, and independent children’s theater groups include mime and physical theater in their repertoire. Dealing fearlessly with subjects such as divorce, death and politics, theatrical culture in Sweden aims to provide a progressive platform for a younger audience.

Influential play
A highlight of the festival now taking place in London is established Swedish director Susanne Osten’s The Girl, the Mother and the Rubbish, which is one of the most influential and widely acclaimed Swedish plays of recent times.

Adapted for the stage by Erik Uddenberg from Osten’s novel, this animated and committed portrayal of a mentally ill mother is both scary and funny in turns. By placing a young girl at the center of the play, Osten helps the audience identify with the child and makes us try to understand the dilemma she faces.

The younger audience is allowed to contemplate the grim reality of the situation from a safe distance – which Osten, as director, occasionally shortens.


Swedish director Suzanne Osten's unconventional approach to children's theater has been widely acclaimed.

”To create a strong impression,” Osten says, “is what working in theater is all about. Most children want to … gain power over their lives and find freedom.” The immediacy and direct connection to its audience gives theater an empowering role to play here.

Swedish innovation
Openness to outside influences makes Swedish theater very vibrant. Always enquiring and challenging prevailing orthodoxies, the theatrical culture continually renews itself. The radical upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a quest to challenge conventions and traditions in theater. Practitioners asked why children’s theater should be any different.

Osten led the way with an outreach program for schools and other venues, emphasizing that theater should be available to all – not simply a cultural elite. “A good performance early in a young person’s life has a powerful effect,” she says, and feels that the truth must be put on stage as “children expect nothing less.”

A theater company for children
A leading influence on Swedish and international children’s theater, Osten started Unga Klara, a theater company championing children’s issues, in 1975. Now affiliated to Stockholm City Theater, the pioneering work of this company is held in high regard throughout the world. It is a major influence on children’s theater in the UK and elsewhere.


For the Swedish festival Ikea has transformed the foyer of the Unicorn Theatre into an installation about children, play and creativity. Photo: Sandra Evans

Osten carefully reviews her approach every year: “Adults are increasingly abandoning children’s and young people’s environments and thus reinforcing the low status of children.” For her, theater is a democratic space, offering an opportunity for integration. “Everyone should be there,” she says.

The Girl, the Mother and the Rubbish is typical of Unga Klara’s fearless questioning, laced with humor. According to festival organizer Johanna Garpe, herself an acclaimed director as well as Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at the Swedish Embassy in London, this uncompromising approach is what inspires UK and international theater practitioners. She says that difficult subjects such as mental illness must be addressed and feels that theater is a good forum for this.


Swedish theater company Theater Barbara performs "Perseus" using dance, mime and acrobatics.

Full program
Small Feet Go Far showcases some of the most important and influential work in Swedish children’s culture. Apart from Osten’s play, London’s Unicorn Theatre will also stage four other plays during the festival: Snopp and Snippa (Riksteatern), The Ocean is Blue (Theater Barbara), The Cat’s Journey (The doll’s theater Tittut) and Perseus (Theater Barbara).

The festival invites parents, teachers, children and all others involved in this field to participate in a debate about what can be achieved. Children’s culture must relate to the conditions faced by children in an ever-changing society and rise to the challenges of new media and entertainments.


The teenage drama "Show Me Love", which will be screened during the London festival, was a big hit both in Sweden and abroad.

Small Feet Go Far serves as a precursor to Sweden’s Year of Young Culture 2007, a national debate on culture for young people. By inviting views and ideas from other countries, a new dynamic will be added to this debate.

What more is on at the festival?

• Nine rehearsed readings of specially translated plays.
• A literature festival of readings from six of Sweden’s best children’s authors, including Pernilla Stahlfelt and Åsa Lind.
• A film festival in cooperation with the British Film Institute (BFI).
• Screenings of the teenage drama Show Me Love and the animated film Dog Days as part of the National Schools Film Week.
• Seminars from director Suzanne Osten, Swedish writer Henning Mankell and UK writer Philip Pullman, covering topics such as taboos and cultural policy.

Small Feet Go Far in figures

• 60 publishers, theaters, organizations and institutions are involved.
• 12 Swedish children’s books and plays have been translated into English for this project.
• More than 50 performances – from plays to readings and film screenings – will be given.
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  Actress Sandra Evans lives in London with her Swedish husband.
  
  The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.
  
  Classification: A165EN
  
  © Photo 4: Sandra Evans