Cover not available
Part of
Romeo and Juliet in European Culture
Edited by Juan F. Cerdá, Dirk Delabastita and Keith Gregor
[Shakespeare in European Culture 1] 2017
► pp. 159–176

Chapter 8
Star-crossed lovers in Sweden

 | Lund University
This chapter traces the history, past and present, of Romeo and Juliet in Sweden, by looking at a few memorable productions, translations and adaptations. In addition, it seeks to give some tentative answers to the questions why, after a first period of popularity, the play was comparatively rarely performed for over a hundred years, and why it then subsequently recovered its popularity on Swedish stages.
Keywords: Romeo and Juliet , Swedish Shakespeare translations, Swedish stage history, Carl August Hagberg, ageism, gender-blind casting
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • A sluggish start
  • 1776: A bourgeois tragedy, a moral debate, and the onslaught of Romanticism
  • 1850: Carl August Hagberg, and the star-crossed lovers overtaken
  • A second spring
  • Playing with the play: Old age, gender-bending, feuds, Freud, and what’s in a name?
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.1.09lin
References (32)
References
Armfelt, Gustaf Mauritz. (1786) 1801. “Svar på Herr Bibliotekarien Leopolds Tal, af Herr Baron Armfelt.” In Svenska Akademiens Handlingar Ifrån År 1786. Första delen, 186–187. Stockholm: printed by Carl Deleen and J. G. Forsgren.Google Scholar
Brandes, Georg. 1891. Hovedstrømninger i det 19de aarhundredes litteratur: Den romantiske skole i Tyskland. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag.Google Scholar
Dahlberg, Gunilla. 1992. Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm. Stockholm: Kommittén för Stockholmsforskning.Google Scholar
Eriksson, Göran O. 1982. “Bortom en lång berättelse (anteckningar om Romeo och Juliet).” Ord & Bild 91: 50–59.Google Scholar
Ewbank, Inga-Stina. 1995. “Shakespeare Translation as Cultural Exchange.” Shakespeare Survey 48: 1–12.Google Scholar
Fridén, Ann. 1988. “Att vara eller inte vara.” In Den svenska nationalscenen: Traditioner och reformer på Dramaten under 200 år, edited by Claes Rosenqvist, 102–123. Höganäs: Wiken.Google Scholar
Greiner, Norbert. 1993. “The Comic Matrix of Early German Shakespeare Translation.” In European Shakespeares: Translating Shakespeare in the Romantic Age, edited by Dirk Delabastita and Lieven D’hulst, 203–218. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hägglund, Kent. 2006. William Shakespeare – En man för alla tider. Stockholm: Ordfront.Google Scholar
Hillberg, Olof, ed. 1948. Teater i Sverige utanför huvudstaden. Stockholm: Svensk litteratur.Google Scholar
Kinnaman, Melinda. 2010. Interview by Roland Heiel. Shakespeare 1: 8–9.Google Scholar
Koenigsgarten, Hugo F. 1993. “Romeo and Juliet by August Strindberg.” In Cabaret Performance Volume II: Europe 1920–1940. Sketches, Songs, Monologues, Memoirs, edited by Laurence Senelick, 121–122. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Laurin, Carl G. 1936. “Från Stockholms teatrar.” Ord & Bild 45: 367–388.Google Scholar
Mårtensson, Sigvard. 1960. “Shakespeare på svenska scener.” In Gustaf Fredén, William Shakespeare: handbok till Radioteatern, 110–120. Stockholm: Åhlén & Åkerlund.Google Scholar
Molin, Nils. 1931. Shakespeare och Sverige intill 1800-talets mitt: En översikt av hans inflytande. Göteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri AB.Google Scholar
Nordmark, Dag. 2007. “Teater utanför Stockholm.” In Ny svensk teaterhistoria. 1, Teater före 1800, edited by Tomas Forser and Sven Åke Heed, 218–239. Hedemora: Gidlund.Google Scholar
Osten, Suzanne. 2006. Wellkåmm to Verona. DVD.Google Scholar
Personne, Nils Edvard. 1914. Svenska teatern: några anteckningar. Del 2: Från Gustaf III:s död till Karl XIV Johans ankomst till Sverige: 1792–1810. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.Google Scholar
Shakespeare, William. 1847–1851. Shakspere’s dramatiska arbeten. Translated by Carl August Hagberg. Lund: Gleerup.Google Scholar
. 1923. Romeo och Julia. Translated by Per Hallström. Stockholm: Bonnier.Google Scholar
. 1960. Romeo och Julia. Translated by Björn Collinder. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.Google Scholar
. 1962. Romeo och Julia och 17 andra Shakespeareberättelser återberättade av Marchette Chute. Translated by Stig Kassman. Stockholm: Bonnier.Google Scholar
. 1968. Romeo och Julia. A revision by Sven Collberg, based on Carl August Hagberg’s translation. Lund: Gleerup.Google Scholar
. 1969. Tragedier. Translated by Åke Ohlmarks. Stockholm: Bonnier.Google Scholar
. 1983. Romeo och Juliet. Translated by Göran O. Eriksson. Stockholm: Ordfront.Google Scholar
. 1991. Romeo och Julia. Translated by Britt G. Hallqvist. Stockholm: Dramatens förlag.Google Scholar
Smidt, Kristian. 1993. “The Discovery of Shakespeare in Scandinavia.” In European Shakespeares: Translating Shakespeare in the Romantic Age, edited by Dirk Delabastita and Lieven D’hulst, 91–103. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorelius, Gunnar. 2002. “Introduction.” In Shakespeare and Scandinavia: A Collection of Nordic Studies, edited by Gunnar Sorelius, 9–16. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press.Google Scholar
Sörenson, Margareta. 2007. “Teater, dans och nycirkus.” In Ny svensk teaterhistoria. 3, 1900-talets teater, edited by Tomas Forser and Sven Åke Heed, 415–424. Hedemora: Gidlund.Google Scholar
Strindberg, August. 1919. Öppna brev till Intima teatern. Stockholm: Bonniers.Google Scholar
Swinnen, Aagje. 2012. “‘Everyone is Romeo and Juliet!’ Staging Dementia in Wellkåmm to Verona by Suzanne Osten.” Journal of Aging Studies 26: 309–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vestin, Martha. 1966. Iscensättning av “Romeo och Julia”: 3-betygsarbete i teaterhistoria, framlagt vid Teaterhistoriska Institutionen vid Stockholms Universitet den 30 november 1966. Bachelor’s thesis Stockholm University.Google Scholar
Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor, gen. eds. 2005. William Shakespeare. The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar