Swedish News

 

  • This year's majblomma.
    Here it is, this year's majblomma! It's a pretty coral red base with soft pink petals and a white center. You can't buy one until it premieres on April 21, however. Thousands and thousands of school children in over 3,000 schools around Sweden will sell the flowers. Last year Majblommans Stiftelse gathered 47 million SEK. "This year we're hoping to make even more," says Lars Bäckström, Majblommans Stiftelsen's CEO.

  • Royal Gossip.
    Who dines with whom? Who can't stand the sight of each other? Who are their friends and foes? We don’t know all, but what we do know we tell you. Let’s start with King Carl Gustaf. He is the same age as Prince Charles of England, but there’s no personal chemistry there – the two men rarely get together. The King isn't too fond of Jan Bernadotte, either – the black sheep in the family. However, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, his cousin, he likes. The British princes’ partying lifestyles don’t impress our princesses and prince much. No love lost there it seems. Crown Princess Victoria likes Märtha Louise of Norway, and her husband Ari Behn has become a friend to both Victoria and Daniel Westling. Victoria also likes Crown Prince Fredrik of Denmark but has a hard time with the destructive lifestyle of his brother Joachim.

  • Simplicity on stage.
    One of the greatest theater directors in Scandinavia, Norwegian Eirik Stubø, is coming to Stockholm’s Stadsteater where he will direct August Strindberg’s “Easter”.
    “To me there’s nothing more beautiful than an actor standing still on an empty stage,” he says. Stubø has done a lot of Ibsen, and New Yorkers might have seen his “Wild Duck” on BAM a few years ago. But for Stadsteatern he chose Strindberg’s play about suffering and atonement. “That play is so rare, so exceptionally optimistic in its summary. It’s a very frail text, very lyrical.” Stubø, who many wanted as the new managing director for Dramaten, sets the stage for “Easter” in black, gray, and brown. “It’s a play that begins in mourning and darkness but moves towards the light,” he says. “I think Strindberg wrote the play because he was in love with Harriet Bosse. It’s a play about himself and his inability to trust anybody. He had just gone through his Inferno crisis and was slightly paranoid. He wished he could believe in something again.
    I’m trying to make it as simple as possible - as simple and as clear as possible - by taking away everything that’s superfluous.”

  • More Strindberg…
    There’s more August Strindberg-related news to report. An updated version of his play “Miss Julie”, called “After Miss Julie”, is coming to Broadway and it’s set to star Sienna Miller. According to BBC News, the young British actress will play Julie at The Roundabout Theater in New York. There are no details as to when the premiere will be. Sienna Miller is famous for her relationship with Jude Law and of course for her roles in movies like “Alfie”, “Factory Girl” and Lasse Hallström’s “Casanova”.

  • Fingers for fashion.
    “Fashion week by Berns” just started in Stockholm, and on the catwalk we see Acne, Carin Wester, Hope, Carin Rodebjer and newcomer Anna-Sara Dåvik. Dåvik studied at Central St. Martins in London and is now making her debut with a collection under her own name. “It was time for that,” she tells Dagens Nyheter. Dåvik has also created a collection of nail jewelry – and it’s this that her collection centers on. “They look just like fake nails with a rail in silver or gold that goes around the finger.” We also found a pair of leather gloves with nails from Dåvik – so fingers are definitely in focus.