“Liv Strömquist thinks of herself” in Dramaten

REVIEW. It will be Liv strömquist Who is the most popular author in Sweden, perhaps even the greatest? I’m not sure, but the idea is worth trying: worldviews are formed on podcasts like “The Rise of the Storm” and “A Wolf Seeks His Pack,” the launch of books like “Rise & Fall” or “The reddest rose strikes “feels national affairs and the slightly heavy social criticism on which it is all based has become a kind of social parlance for people in their 20s and 50s.

These are not nonsense.

In that sense, drama is a sideline for Strömquist, not just because he’s a more skilled director. There are bergers it works, but also because, in a dull and typically contemporary way, it functions as a variation on books and thoughts that have now begun to gain cabinet food status. Strömquist is productive, but sadly art does not get economies of scale when it expands to new institutions, forums, and media. On the contrary.

“Liv Strömquist thinks of herself” is a sequel to “Liv Strömquist thinks of you” which was successful in Dramaten a few years ago. Berger directs, several of the actors repeat their participation, and everything goes as expected: the group talks and plays, but it is Liv Strömquist who speaks. The audience is invited to a joyful, playful and intelligent talk about the nature of love and its sad place in the promised paradise of freedom from capitalism and neoliberalism.

The form is the laughing collage. One scene goes smoothly to the next, but without the help of the plot. There is no such thing, and if it is Tolstoy, Plato, Leonardo Dicaprio, Greek mythology or any sociological theory of love that is approached and perverted on stage, the statement remains the same.

Love in our time is unbearable, but also easy: changing partners is like changing a defective chair in a furniture cabinet. The consumption of love makes us empty shells, rational individualism is a prison, freedom of choice has become metaphysical. And late capitalism has condemned us to forge our own happiness, but it is not possible, all we do are neurotic shackles; we live with a kind of tired worry that every final and decisive love decision will mean our death.

But, Strömquist says between the lines, such decisions actually mean a liberation from the ridiculous, ugly, and destructive freedom of choice. The feeling of death is a leap towards true freedom. It’s tough, smart, and challenging.

Of course, an hour and 40 minutes of training entertainment is not a shame, as there are Friday nights.

The ensemble does a good job acting as spokesperson for Strömquist. They are fun and safe, they make the bubbly intelligence of the script feel simple, they make it clear, educational entertainment. You feel the emptiness. The debutante of the drama William spetz charismatic charm especially shines, but also Sanna sundqvists The obvious presence deserves a mention.

It’s not his fault that he’s boring me a little. Anyone who has listened to Strömquist podcasts or read “The reddest rose strikes”, the basic stuff of “Liv Strömquist thinks of herself”, recognizes it all. Very good. Call it economies of scale. A well packaged but boring theatrical product.

Sure, an hour and 40 minutes of educational entertainment isn’t a shame like a Friday night, but with a certain level, the one Liv Strömquist has now reached, other expectations come.

One of them is not capitalizing on thoughts already thought.

Victor Malm is critic and editor of Expressen’s culture page.