Tattoo artist Tabita and hairdresser Gulletussan are two figures that Mia Skäringer has returned to. But in her gallery of characters, she also has lonely Ann-Marie – the redhead in a hairstyle and a thin, bronzed synthetic costume that cuts into her underwear.
It has now been 17 years since Ann-Marie got her exterior updated in SVT's "Go'kväll".
She only got this outfit. Then she was thrown out of the studio in Umeå to take the train home. And life wasn't changed, she would have to do that herself.
Much is the same even for Mia Skäringer, who comes directly from the recordings of two new seasons of "Solsidan". While her colleague Josephine Bornebusch is simultaneously reaping international directorial successes, Mia Skäringer has never had any plans for a career abroad.
The new "Ann-Marie chooses joy" is recorded in Mölnlycke.
I've always worked with recognition humor and my characters are probably quite typically Swedish.
"Rural comedian"
Ann-Marie was born in her first stage show, "Dyngkåt and how holy as possible" from 2010. SvD's Lars Ring appointed Skäringer as a kind of "female rural comedian who magnifies the hopeless abyss between who we want to be and who we really are".
Her Ann-Marie describes her as "a reflection of our time's self-help industry" but also of the social difficulties that Skäringer thinks she struggles with herself.
You learn to play the game but are constantly going around and directing yourself.
As a 50-year-old, Ann-Marie is carefree and stubborn but quickly gets a quivering lower lip. The ten-minute episodes switch between comedy and tragedy – it's also when Mia Skäringer thinks Ann-Marie becomes a real person she can identify with.
It's always difficult with humor, how much slapstick should we have? I'm extremely sensitive to that. I don't want to play her for humor, I want to play her more for sorrow and loneliness.
Self-help frenzy
From day one, Ann-Marie has been walking around with Kay Pollak's self-help book "Choosing joy" and the self-help industry has hardly decreased – on the contrary, according to Mia Skäringer.
We are extremely much in our egos and rather little collective. I've personally been to retreats, listened to Kay Pollak and a bunch of gurus. When you get older, you start to feel "lay off! Be in what feels good, and don't think so much" – I think that's highly topical.
Erika Josefsson/TT
Facts: Mia Skäringer
TT
Born: 1976 in Kristinehamn.
Lives: In Gothenburg.
Family: Husband and three children.
Current: With "Ann-Marie chooses joy" which will be shown from April 18 on SVT Play and on SVT1 from April 19.
Career in selection: The TV program "Mia and Klara" with Klara Zimmergren, the TV series "Solsidan", podcasts plus stage performances such as "Avig Maria – no more fucks to give" which sold out the Globe five times. Has also written the autobiography "Maria – a female comedian's diary". Last autumn, the TV series "Tabita's tattoo etc." was shown on TV4.
