Tuesday 11/4 in Umeå - BEHIND THE SCENES OF: "HANDBOOK FOR HOUSEWOMEN". Come and meet the people behind "Handbook for housewives", in a conversation about how the performance was developed. What are the visions behind it? And what discoveries and challenges have emerged along the way? Exciting both for those who have seen the performance and those who will see it! Time: Tue 11/4 at 18.00
Place: Foyer outside the Studio, Umeå Folkets hus
Price: Free admission.
Participants: The acting ensemble and Johanna Salander, idea and direction.
Discussion leader: Maria Åberg, Umeå Teaterförening
PRESS RELEASE
"When Västerbottensteatern makes theater of the modern history of housewives and housework, it is a masterful work we get to take part in, when the existential dimensions constantly vibrate in the subtext - the political reforms of the folk home era, friction between generations, the view of what is a job, what is a life. Everything is given space in the life of the woman we get to follow, invited into the home sphere that constitutes the playing space, intelligently designed by Hanna Cecilia Wilén Lindkvist with audience seats around the stage for even closer contact with both actors and fellow audience.
The chronology and premise of the performance is straightforward and clear: three actors in the three ages of the main role, three time periods in contrast to each other - but director Johanna Salander, together with screenwriter Camilla Blomqvist, has created a symphonic and poetic whole, where time and space are layered into each other and are both in close dialog and clinch with each other....
...what Handbok för husmödrar so clearly shows, if anything, is that it doesn't stop - women's lives live in all of us and are stories to be cherished. And; not least, that Västerbottensteatern with this performance continues to strengthen its artistic position." - Sara Meidell, Västerbottens-Kuriren
"With Annika Nordin, Sonja Lindblom and Malin Vispe, as Ester at three different ages, we get something that is beyond acting. They give the script a nerve that is almost painful. Or it is painfully good.... The music, the space, the costumes and the actors are one with each other. Johanna Salander has mastered the individual characters of three strong actresses and brought them together into one voice. Esther's life is not a pastime. It is real.... This is a moving portrait of and with women. In short, theater at its best." - Ingela Lekfalk, Norran
AN INTIMATE STORY OF HOUSEWORK, THE CONDITIONS OF MOTHERHOOD, CARE AND A FRIENDSHIP THAT SURVIVES EVERYTHING.
When Ester moves into the newly built detached house, the house is spacious and modern, seventy square meters with both bathroom and laundry room inside. Her husband Gunnar thinks they can afford a few amenities, and their first child is soon to be born.
Across the street lives Majken, who is going on a housewife's vacation, and Gunhild, who picks berries to earn her own money for a freezer. Many years later, when Ester has lived her whole life in the house and is about to move out, she suddenly finds herself face to face with the person she once was: the nineteen-year-old new mother who tried to find her place in the housewife ideal of the fifties and the forty-year-old who walks alone during the day when her daughter has grown up, who understands that the care she devotes to the home is not valued as before and that she is now expected to look for a job.
Handbok för husmödrar (Handbook for housewives ) is a newly written play that depicts the life of a housewife in a public home, with frilly pillowcases, varnished floors and sewing kits. An intimate story about the conditions of motherhood, about care and a friendship that survives everything. Three actors playing the same role at three different ages in a performance where the often invisible work of women, such as manual labor and housework, takes place on stage. Playwright Camilla Blomqvist and director Johanna Salander have approached the play through research and interviews about the folk home period in Skellefteå. Hanna Cecilia Lindkvist is responsible for the stage design and Frida Johansson for the specially composed music. In the role of Ester we see Annika Nordin, Sonja Lindblom and Malin Vispe.
Facts about seating and refreshments:
The set is designed as a room in the main stage where the audience sits around the stage. The actors play the show in the middle with the audience on all sides. The performance thus feels intimate and this is reinforced by the fact that there is only room for about 90 people in the audience per performance. The performance ends with a coffee break in the auditorium. The coffee is included in the ticket price.
TIPS on a lecture!
RUTH'S WARDROBE - A FASHION STORY
Author visit by Ingela Bendt, Monday 13/3 at 18:00.
HANDBOOK FOR HOUSEWIVES An intimate portrait of housework, motherhood, caring and a lasting friendship that overcomes everything. A newly written play where three actors play the same role but at three different ages, in a performance where the often invisible work, such as child care, needlework and housework, takes place on stage.
BEHIND THE SCENES - TALKS WITH THE ARTISTIC TEAM OF "HANDBOOK FOR HOUSEWIVES"
On 15/3 at 18.00
Location: Trappscenen, Sara kulturhus.
Price: Free entrance.
Participants: The artistic team.
Discussion leader: Tora von Platen, dramaturge and playwright.
PREMIERE 4/3 2023 AT SARA KULTURHUS
PERFORMANCE PERIOD MARCH - APRIL 2023
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes without break. Afterwards coffee in the salon.
Prices: Ordinary price 355 SEK, stage pass 315 SEK, youth/student 215 SEK. Coffee after the performance is included in the price.
Scripts Camilla Blomqvist
IDEA & DIRECTION Johanna Salander
DRAMATURG Tora von Platen
SCENOGRAPHY & COSTUME DESIGN Hanna Cecilia Wilén Lindkvist
MASK & WIG DESIGN Helena Andersson
COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGN Frida Johansson
LIGHT DESIGN Kin Isaksson
THE ROLES Sonja Lindblom, Annika Nordin and Malin Vispe.
STAGE ENGINEERING, SCENOGRAPHY, DECORATION AND COSTUMES are produced by the theater's technicians & studio staff and Sara Kulturhus technicians.
PERFORMANCE TECHNICIANS Oskar Bergkvist, Catherine Crépault Wibe, Kin Isaksson, Jonas Åberg, Petter Ögren.
PUBLISHER Colombine Teaterförlag
PHOTO Lisalove Bäckman
PRESS PICTURES Patrick Degerman
Artistic Director Bobo Lundén
CEO & PUBLISHER: Challa Gustavsson
Thanks to:
- Katarina Åman, Skellefteå Museum.
- Folkrörelsearkivet in Västerbotten.
- the housewives' association Hem och Samhälle in Skellefteå.
- our reference group at the rehearsals.
- Theresa Eriksson, Karin Larsson, Matilda Kjellmor and Julia Jonsson.
Post-performance refreshments in Skellefteå are served by The Wood Hotel by Elite.
