When Fredriksdalsteatern opens under new direction next summer, it will be with the newly written comedy “Nötter” by Adde Malmberg. In one of the main roles, as a curious conference participant at an ecological course farm, Babben Larsson can be seen.
— I haven’t played much farce before. This won’t be the classic run-in-doors and people sleeping with each other here and there, but here we have a burnt-out waiter, a conference leader and a hotel hostess trying to put out fires about each other, she says.
“Not naive”
Adde Malmberg has previously staged a Swedish theater version of John Cleese’s “Pang i byggett” at Fredrikdalsteatern. Babben Larsson then traveled there to see her old colleague in the role of Basil Fawlty, she says.
— It was the first time I was at Fredriksdal and I fell incredibly in love with that environment. I have never played summer theater in the classic way, it will be fun to try. But I’m not so naive that I don’t understand that it will both rain and be full of sun when we play.
It is not the first time that Adde Malmberg has directed Babben Larsson, the two have worked together on several occasions.
— He is very straightforward. You never have to think about what he thinks and then you become very confident as an actor.
Synergy effect
The set of “Nötter” will be the first under Anagram Live’s auspices. When the company won the tender from the municipality of Helsingborg, it eventually emerged that Eva Rydberg, who had run the theater since 1994, had been dismissed against her will.
“Apparently, she claims to have been quite run over and badly treated by the municipality. It’s not okay, but I thought it was a good solution that she actually found another location and can continue driving, says Babben Larsson.
TT: Is the Helsingborg audience big enough for two competing summer theatres?
— The way I see it, many people will probably go down by bus and then maybe they can squeeze two farces into one trip. There could be a synergistic effect and something positive with twice as much supply this summer. Then we’ll see if the audience thinks so too.
“Nötter” premieres on June 29, 2024.