The goal is to capture at least glimpses of what Sweden is today, but also to find out who Nils Holgersson would be. However, the National Theatre Director does not want to develop that further yet.
But what do you do when all the geese are tame and cannot fly? he asks rhetorically.
The director and writer Stina Oscarson passed away on April 18 due to anorexia, a disease she had had for many years. She wrote the manuscript for the performance with the working title "Mission Holgersson". There is now an artistic team at the National Theatre working on it, a team that has also worked with Stina Oscarson before. The goal is a world premiere and a tour in the spring of 2026.
Initially, she wanted to create a family performance of Selma Lagerlöf's "Nils Holgersson's Wonderful Journey". But during conversations with Dritëro Kasapi, the project changed to become a performance about contemporary Sweden for an adult audience first and foremost.
The basis is interviews conducted with people all over the country, explains Dritëro Kasapi, who does not think the production is a documentary.
Rather, fiction inspired by the interviews, which hopefully will reflect reality in a deeper way. I think Stina was trying to see how the local communities have changed during different people's lifetimes, how much influence you have as a citizen.
But the respondents have also been asked to answer questions like "what makes you happy", as well as talk about their hopes and fears.
For Dritëro Kasapi, Stina Oscarson's passing came as a shock.
I never thought she wouldn't complete this.
