Women and Apple Trees

A PORTRAIT OF TWO WOMEN'S LIVES, FRIENDSHIP, AND STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL AT THE TURN OF THE LAST CENTURY.

An innovative drama based on Moa Martinson’s classic working-class literature. The play depicts two women’s struggle for survival in poverty-stricken Sweden at the turn of the last century—a moving story of sisterhood, strength, and friendship that defies the trials of the times. With down-to-earth language and powerful social pathos, *Women and Apple Trees* is brought to life on stage.

Together, they overcome poverty, grief, and betrayal. Now we meet Moa Martinson’s beloved characters in a new and powerful dramatization. Sally and Ellen, both raised in the slums of Norrköping in the late 1800s, meet as adults. They become each other’s refuge and source of strength. Ellen is the quiet, resilient mother trapped in a destructive marriage. Sally speaks her mind, fearless and upright. Children swarm around them in a daily life marked by hardship and survival.

Moa Martinson’s 1933 novel depicts the living conditions of women around the turn of the last century in a language rooted in life itself—concrete, down-to-earth, and uncompromising.
Nearly a century later, the story continues to move readers with its social pathos, its sharp insight, and, above all, its poignant portrayal of female friendship.