Dumstrut (Dunce Cap)
Backa Teater, Göteborgs stadsteater
June 4th 12pm
June 5th 12pm
Backateatern, Gothenburg
The jury’s motivation: Backa Teater’s bold project 3 x Crime and Punishment brings a sense of freshness and urgency to the idea of contemporary theatre. With their three productions, Dumstrut (Dunce Cap), Att döda en Tivoli (To Kill a Carnival) and Brott och straff (Crime and Punishment) they have solidly placed Dostoyevsky’s classic questions of life and morality in our own times. The set design, common to all three productions, turns the old factory into a classical arena for existential discourse, giving gravity and play equal status as elements of expression. From the playground to the courtroom we confront, on concrete and philosophical levels, the questions of crime, punishment, social exclusion, responsibility, atonement and forgiveness. Good and Evil. 3 x Brott och straff challenges us, crosses all age barriers and restores our faith in the theatre as an artistic power in our society.
Idea Lars Melin & ensemblen
Directed by Lars Melin
Texts by Malin Axelsson, Anna Berg,
Lisa Langseth, ensemblen, m fl
Set design & costume Ulla Kassius
Light design Tomas Fredriksson, Peter Moa
Make up Linda Boije af Gennäs
Sound design Mattias Björnström, Jonas Redig
Dramaturgy Lena Fridell
On stage Anna Harling, Maria Hedborg,
Rolf Holmgren, Ramtin Parvaneh,
Laurence Plumridge, Ulf Rönnerstrand,
Kjell Wilhelmsen
music & on stage Mats Nahlin
App. 1 h and 5 min no intermission.
First performance 17 nov 2007. From 7 years old.
Did you ever wonder about crime and punishment? Did you ever tell a secret, one that you promised not to tell? Did you eat the last candy in the dish? Ever wonder if anything could be forgiven, anything at all? Ever kill a fly? Then you should see Dumstrut (Dunce Cap). By putting together specially commissioned texts from some of Sweden’s finest young playwrights, we’ve created a musical theatre piece overflowing with humor, serious stuff and other stuff that’s not so serious. You might describe it as an electric organ cabaret, one that first trips you up, then says it’s sorry and that is always right…or wrong. These plays are all part of the Crime and Punishment project, a theme we’ve been discussing with the citizens of Göteborg.