In recent years, actress Lena Olin has primarily been seen on the big screen and it has been a whole eight years since she last stood on stage.
After the last time, I didn't feel like doing more theater, I've been a bit shy about it. But now it just feels really enjoyable, I've got a taste for it, says Olin.
For her son FA Campbell, usually residing in the USA, even more years have passed since he last worked with Swedish theater – then as a directing assistant at Dramaten.
When he now debuts as a director in Sweden, it is with an adaptation of Strindberg's "The Father" – a chamber play about power struggles and patriarchal structures.
In my rewriting, I balance the perspectives between the daughter and the parents. The production highlights the daughter's perspective more than the original, says FA Campbell.
Other roles at work
That it would be Lena Olin in one of the main roles, and Peter Andersson in the other, was the idea from the beginning, tells Campbell. And for Lena Olin – who in several films has been directed by her husband Lasse Hallström – it's not something new that colleagues are also family members.
I have now worked with everyone in the close family, and it works so well. With the family, you don't need to take any detours. You don't need to package any messages or worry about misunderstandings, it's straightforward, says Lena Olin.
She gets support from her son.
We don't have any need to switch to other roles when we come to work, it comes naturally, he says.
"Tensions and violence"
Does a nearly 150-year-old play have anything to say about our contemporary time? For FA Campbell, there is no doubt.
It felt timely to dust it off now. Tensions and violence between people are always current and in many ways Strindberg is very timeless, says Campbell and continues:
But instead of answering questions, I want the play to ask questions. In Strindberg's version, the action is very concrete and it's clear what happens. In our production, I want to raise questions about why it happens.
Also for Lena Olin, it was Strindberg who attracted her to the project.
Since he is one of the greats, you constantly find new treasures in his plays, there's so much exciting to explore and take from there, she says.
"The Father" premieres at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm on October 10.
Born: 1955 in Stockholm
Film roles in selection: "Picasso's adventure" (1978), "Fanny and Alexander" (1982), "The unbearable lightness of being" (1988), "Havana" (1990), "The ninth gate" (1999), "Chocolat" (2000), "Alias" (TV series, 2001-2006), "Casanova" (2005), "The reader" (2008), "Look out for Jönssonligan" (2020), "Hilma" (2022).
Current: Plays one of the main roles in the performance "The Father" at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern.
