We Woke Up to a Midsummer Nightmare – And It Only Got Worse

Ten years ago, on Midsummer's Eve, the world awoke to the shock of the British referendum on Brexit, an event described by one observer as the start of a nightmare. This moment, ten years ago this weekend, marked a turning point, ushering in a period where what was once unthinkable rapidly became the accepted reality.

The article draws a parallel between this political shift and contemporary theatre. It references a play at Dramaten, the Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden, that explores the aftermath of Brexit. It also recalls a previous production by Hannes Meidal and Jens Ohlin, which satirically depicted a US presidential candidate with a "brand-orange complexion and a flying hairstyle," transforming the previously unimaginable into the new normal within a year.

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My god, what have we done?

Now, Meidal and Ohlin are staging a new work based on Molière's 17th-century play 'The Misanthrope.' This production, featuring Hannes Meidal as a "macabrely grinning Joker figure" embodying the embittered Alceste, serves as a commentary on the past decade. Alceste's call to "get real" and abandon "humanitarian platitudes and other goodness-signaling affectations" resonates with the current critique of societal discourse.

The play is described as masterful and hilariously funny, emerging directly from the "abyss of our shameless present." It engages the audience physically, appealing to base instincts and highlighting the fragile line between care and cruelty. A line from the play, "Where one unreflectingly votes on a playground, one soon also burns people," delivered by Lotta Tejle as the lady-in-waiting Vivianne, underscores the perceived escalation from trivial political decisions to more extreme consequences, met with derisive laughter from the audience.

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Where one unreflectingly votes on a playground, one soon also burns people.