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.

Participants and production

A co-production between Västerbottensteatern and Riksteatern.

Adaptation: Tora von Platen
Director: Julia Marko-Nord
Set and Costume Designer: Sven Haraldsson
Composer: Martin Hederos
Makeup design: Angelica Ekeberg
Dramaturg: Ninna Tersman
Cast: Emilia Roosmann, Maria Sundbom, Mårten Andersson, Tuuli Heinonen, and Emil El Hayek Grudemo.

Press clippings and reviews

“Julia Marko-Nord has directed a lighthearted version of *Women and Apple Trees* in which the actors carry the story, sometimes in a variety of roles. But at the center, always: Sally and Ellen.”
“At Sally’s home, her young children Bruno and Edit—played by Mårten Andersson and Maria Sundbom—are crawling around. The two will then quickly and elegantly take on other, older roles. Sundbom, in particular, is a master at changing her speech and body language, as when she briefly becomes the matriarch Sofi…”
“‘Women and Apple Trees’ depicts a world of hardship and oppression, not only from the authorities but also from religion, yet on stage, it is still the light that prevails.” – Sara Granath, SvD

“Women and Apple Trees in the Age of the Manosphere. I am delighted, both before and after seeing the performance, that *Women and Apple Trees* is being adapted for the stage in 2026.
When Moa Martinson made her debut with *Women and Apple Trees* in 1933, the novel attracted attention and became controversial. She depicted the lives of working-class women without mincing words: childbirth, sexuality, abuse, and appalling poverty and hardship.”
“Sally and Ellen are well portrayed by Emilia Roosmann and Tuuli Heinonen. Sally is, in the play just as in the novel, a bit harder to grasp; she is so close to the author, Moa. Maria Sundbom, Mårten Andersson, and Emil Grudemo El Hayek also do justice to the other roles. Comedienne Maria Sundbom is one of the reasons the production rises above the kind of straightforward adaptation that a dramatization of *Women and Apple Trees*—and other dramatizations—risks becoming.” – Ola Bo Larsson, Dagens Arena

“Moa Martinson’s *Women and Apple Trees* depicts the conditions of women’s lives in a harsh world. Gunilla Brodrej is impressed by both the staging and the acting.”
“Childbirth is difficult to portray… However, in the Riksteatern’s adaptation of Moa Martinson’s novel *Women and Apple Trees*, there is one of the best depictions of childbirth I can possibly recall. No pregnant belly, not even a baby.”
“Julia Marko-Nord gets a star in my book for directing Tora von Platen’s skillful dramatization of this working-class portrayal of women’s struggles and bodies.”
“Emilia Roosmann and Tuuli Heinonen play the sweet friends Sally and Ellen, while Maria Sundbom, Mårten Andersson, and Emil Grudemo El Hayek slip in and out of various roles. One moment, Maria Sundbom can be the precocious six-year-old Edit, and the next, she’s “the happy girl” Mimmi, whose every little muscle celebrates life. There are only five actors, but they bring an entire community to life, with the friendship between Sally and Ellen serving as a beacon in the middle of the village.” – Gunilla Brodrej, Expressen

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A co-production between Västerbottensteatern and Riksteatern.