They Play Shakespeare in a Greaser Milieu: 'Swedish Midsummer is Marked by Love Entanglements'

Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is being reimagined in the heart of Sweden's 1980s 'raggar' (greaser) subculture. Teater Västernorrland's production, set in the town of Kramfors in 1986, transforms the magical forest into a world of "brylkräm, epadunk and cruising." Director Rasmus Lindberg believes the passionate and often volatile nature of the raggar culture aligns perfectly with Shakespeare's "affect-driven characters."

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The raggar culture should be seen, heard, love, rage, and hate. That relationship to the outside world responds very well to the worldview Shakespeare wrote his plays from.

Lindberg has transplanted the play's action to a Swedish midsummer, complete with two vintage American cars that will rumble onto the stage. Instead of the Athenian Duke Theseus, the audience will meet "raggar king" Johnny Theseus, who is set to marry Marie-Kristin. "Swedish midsummer is characterized by nature worship, but also drunkenness, fights, and love entanglements," Lindberg explained. He noted that the "loose and emotional nature of the Swedish midsummer night rhymes well with this play," even humorously referencing the high number of births nine months after midsummer's eve.

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Swedish midsummer is characterized by nature worship, but also drunkenness, fights, and love entanglements. I am myself born exactly nine months after midsummer's eve, and there is an overrepresentation of children who have their birthday in March because of that. I think the loose and emotional nature of the Swedish midsummer night rhymes well with this play.

The production also incorporates a modern twist on the play-within-a-play. In Shakespeare's original, a group of craftsmen rehearse a play. Here, it's "car mechanics" putting on "Romeo and Juliet," a performance Lindberg described as going "very badly," mirroring the original's comedic failure. Composer Mathias Venge has infused the metatheatre with music inspired by contemporary 'epadunk' and rockabilly-infused Swedish folk music. For instance, a scene where Titania transforms into a donkey and a "sex party" ensues will feature a folk version of Fröken Snusk's song "Rid mig som en dalahäst" (Ride me like a Dala horse).

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But nobody knows about that today, instead it's car mechanics who put on 'Romeo and Juliet' in this play. Just like in the original play, it goes very badly.