Riksteatern
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. It's the biggest theatre company on tour in Sweden and can, in one way, almost be described as Sweden's national stage on tour.
Riksteatern is financed and owned by 240 local economic associations throughout Sweden and the goal is to promote and produce quality theatre for all of Sweden, outside the city regions.
Riksteatern was established in 1933 and has been on-tour all over Sweden since. The Royal Dramatic Theatre
Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
(the national stage) and the Cullberg Ballet
Cullberg Ballet
The Cullberg Ballet is a Swedish contemporary dance company.It was founded by the modern dancer and pioneer choreographer Birgit Cullberg in 1967, who brought it to fame...
, for example, toures regularly with Riksteatern with many of their most popular productions.
History of Riksteatern
Riksteatern (or "the Riksteater") was established in 1933 by Arthur Engberg. "Not only the citizens of the capital city in Sweden should be granted the privilege of first class theatre productions. The rest of the nation also has the right to claim this!" - with these words, after a long public debate, Riksteatern was given the proper state funding and support. At first Riksteatern, in the 1930s, was supposed to be the touring section of Sweden's Royal Dramatic TheatreRoyal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
, in an effort to reach an audience in Sweden that couldn't get the chance to visit the national stage in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. However, in the 1940s Riksteatern was given their own ensemble, producing stage productions solely for Riksteatern and with the purpose to be given on-tour.
In 1966 Riksteatern was corporatized with Sweden's second influential touring theatre organization Svenska Teatern and became "Svenska Riksteatern". In 1967 Riksteatern started a section for producing theatre productions for children and youth, called Unga Riks ("Young Riksteatern") which has performed quality theatre for children for three decades, performing in schools all over Sweden at low cost on a regular bases.
Since 1977 the theatre group Tyst Teater
Tyst Teater
Tyst Teater is a Swedish theatre company, since 1970s part of Riksteatern, that specializes in producing quality theatre in sign language for deaf people....
("Silent Theatre") is also part of Riksteatern. It's a unique group that specialize in staging theatre productions for deaf in the sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
and has become very popular and sought after internationally in recent years.
In 1999 "Riks Drama" was founded by Lars Norén
Lars Norén
Lars Norén is a Swedish playwright, novelist and poet. He is considered Sweden's most prominent contemporary playwright of today.Born in Stockholm, Norén wrote his first play at age 19...
, Sweden's leading contemporary playwright today, and also the section of "Riks Gästspel" for guest performances by Riksteatern abroad.
External links
- Riksteatern.se (official site, in Swedish only)
