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UNITED STATES

‘We want Swedes and foreigners to laugh at their differences’

A new improv comedy show in Stockholm pokes fun at the cultural differences foreigners often encounter while living in Sweden. The Local catches up with American actor Josh Lenn, one of the show's creators, to find out more.

Published: 19 October 2012 14:39 CEST
'We want Swedes and foreigners to laugh at their differences'

The show, “Lost in Translation”, premieres on Friday, providing just the antidote for anyone who has found the experience of living in Sweden to be “overwhelming, confusing, and frustrating”.

The show tackles the peaks and troughs of life as a foreigner in Sweden, based on experiences drawn on from actor Josh Lenn, a US native who’s been in Stockholm for the past few years.

With the show offering the chance to “laugh at our cultural differences with these special people called Swedes”, The Local talks Lenn about the show, life in Sweden as a Californian, and the importance of saying “yes”.

The Local: How and when did you get the idea for this show?

Josh Lenn: I have been here four years now and I’ve been faced with some tough challenges as well as amazing moments. I have met so many expats who have similar experiences and challenges when making a life in Sweden.

A lot of this stems from our cultural differences with Swedes, who have strong social norms. Integration can be difficult. About a year ago I realized I wanted to put this on stage, and theatre is a great forum to not only laugh at these differences, but potentially understand them better.

TL: As you see it, what is the toughest thing about being an American in Sweden?

JL: Being from California, the obvious answer is the weather. But, the big thing when I moved here was missing small talk. I think a lot of Americans crave that.

TL: Why will this show appeal to non-American expats living in Sweden?

JL: This show will hopefully be fun for anyone who has moved here from another country. Also, it will hopefully be fun for Swedes who are open to taking a look at themselves from another perspective.

TL: Why is improvisation a useful way of exploring the challenges of navigating life in Sweden as a foreigner?

JL: One of the fundamentals of improv is to say “yes”, which basically means to accept what is given to you. As we get older, we learn how to say “no” more and more. So, by practicing improv regularly you work out your “yes” muscles and you learn to be more accepting. That attitude helps a lot when you are faced with change and things that are different.

Improv also tends to be funny. So it is a great vehicle to provide laughter for situations when you might normally feel frustration.

TL: Tell us a little bit about the cast? Who are they and what do they know about being ‘lost in translation’ in Sweden?

JL: The cast is made up three amazing Swedish improvisers, Robert Weitz, Veronica Bergström and Katarina Wahlberg, me, and a great musician Maria Olofsson. They are very brave for being willing to put their “Swedishness” under the microscope and take a look at themselves with different eyes. Some of them have lived abroad as well.

TL: What sort of reactions have you gotten in the run-up to the show’s opening?

JL: So far the reaction has been very positive. The first two shows have already sold out, which is a great sign. It feels like the concept resonates with people, and that’s fun.

TL: Is there any chance the show will continue? Any thoughts about taking it elsewhere in Sweden?

JL: There is a good chance the show will continue. Especially if we keep selling tickets. We have not thought too far in advance about taking it somewhere else, but we are very open to it.

“Lost in Translation” is showing on October 19th, November 23rd, and December 7th at the Improvisation & Co. theatre at Hagagatan 48 in Stockholm’s Vasastan neighbourhood. The October and November shows are sold out, but tickets are still available for the December 7th show (see link below)

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PARIS

Top Paris theatre reopens as Covid occupy movement ends

French actors, stage technicians and other members of the performing arts ended a more-than-two-month occupation of the famous Odéon theatre in Paris on Sunday, allowing the show to go on after this week's easing of Covid-19 curbs.

Published: 23 May 2021 15:58 CEST
Top Paris theatre reopens as Covid occupy movement ends
A picture taken on January 26, 2011 in Paris shows the facade of the Odéon theatre. LOIC VENANCE / AFP

The protesters took down the banners they had slung across the facade of the venue in the Left Bank as they left at dawn, leaving just one inscribed “See you soon”.

“We’re reopening!,” theatre director Stéphane Braunschweig exclaimed on the venue’s website, adding that it was “a relief and a great joy to be able to finally celebrate the reunion of the artists with the public.”

The Odéon, one of France’s six national theatres, was one of around 100 venues that were occupied in recent weeks by people working in arts and entertainment.

The protesters are demanding that the government extend a special Covid relief programme for “intermittents” — performers, musicians, technicians and other people who live from contract to contract in arts and entertainment.

READ ALSO: Protesters occupy French theatres to demand an end to closure of cultural spaces

With theatres shut since October due to the pandemic, the occupations had gone largely unnoticed by the general public until this week when cultural venues were finally cleared to reopen.

The Odéon, which was inaugurated by Marie-Antoinette in 1782, had planned to mark the reopening in style, by staging Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece “The Glass Menagerie”, with cinema star Isabelle Huppert as a former southern belle mourning the comforts of her youth.

But the protests scuppered the first five performances, with management saying the venue was blocked — a claim the protesters denied.

“What we wanted was for it (the performance) to go ahead, along with an occupation allowing us to speak out and hang our banners. We don’t want to stop the show,” Denis Gravouil, head of the performing arts chapter of the militant CGT union, said on Sunday.

Two other major theatres — the Colline theatre in eastern Paris and the National Theatre of Strasbourg — have also been affected by the protests.
 
France has one of the world’s most generous support systems for self-employed people in the arts and media, providing unemployment benefit to those who can prove they have worked at least 507 hours over the past 12 months.

But with venues closed for nearly seven months, and strict capacity limits imposed on those that reopened this week, the “intermittents” complained they could not make up their hours.

The government had already extended a year-long deadline for them to return to work by four months.

The “intermittents” are pushing for a year-long extension instead.

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