Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival
On August 23, the fourth Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival opens at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten), offering eleven days of guest performances from countries that include Iran, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Brazil, France and Belgium. Six new Dramaten productions will premiere during the festival, a screening of Jane Magnusson's forthcoming film, Bergman: A Year, a Life. When the festival ends on September 2, more than 200 visiting actors, directors and theatre technicians will have convened on the national stage in more than 50 productions, discussions, workshops and film screenings.
The anniversary year 2018, when Bergman would have turned 100, has drawn considerable attention around the world. This is also the case at Dramaten, where the Bergman Festival presents international guest performances of the highest quality. Among the attractions is the return, for the third time, of star director Ivo van Hove with the dual production After the Rehearsal/Persona. Simon Stone's Hotel Strindberg is a visually compelling production from the Burgtheater in Vienna featuring the renowned actor Martin Wuttke. Belgian tg STAN's Infidèle (Faithless) celebrates the dynamic, humorous side of Ingmar Bergman as a writer. In Dancing with Bergman, three internationally famous Swedish choreographers, Mats Ek, Alexander Ekman and Johan Inger, honour Ingmar Bergman with a new work apiece. In addition, the Iranian Mehr Theatre Group presents the interrogation drama Hearing, and Danish performance artist Madame Nielsen returns to Dramaten with Topographies of Paradise, a unique collaboration weaving together five productions from five European theatres.
The festival will also feature a screening of Jane Magnusson's film Bergman: A Year, a Life, depicting Bergman's life and work during 1957. The film has its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
All this and more is on the programme, which also includes discussions, lectures, film screenings, exhibitions and much more. The entire programme of the Bergman Festival is presented below. All performances have English surtitles. (www.dramaten.se)