Playwright: Lars Norén
Director: Eirik Stubø

 

Cast
Eugene O'Neill: Örjan Ramberg
Carlotta O'Neill: Lena Endre
Shane: Erik Ehn
Eugene Jr.: Thomas Hanzon
Saki: Joaquin NaBi Olsson

Synopsis
In 1941, the American author and Nobel Prize laureate Eugene O'Neill wrote an autobiographical piece: Long Day's Journey into Night. The title says it all. We are witness to a day in the life of the Tyrone family. Father, mother and two sons are struggling with their addictions (alcohol and drugs), demons from the past and with each other. They can’t live with or without each other.

 

The world premiere was played by Dramaten, the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre – the company that now plays Lars Norén’s version of the story: Och ge oss skuggorna (And Give Us The Shadows). Norén is a huge admirer of O'Neill, but doesn’t spare his literary father. And Give Us The Shadows is a merciless portrait of a literary genius who – burdened by addictions, depressions, tuberculosis and a difficult childhood terrorises his family.

 

 

Artist
Lars Norén Playwright
Lars Norén (1944) is Sweden’s most celebrated contemporary playwright. His pieces are played throughout Europe with great success. In 2003, Norén received the Swedish Nordiska Pris, also called the “little Nobel prize” for his work. Norén's work is realistic, razor sharp and at the same time human—in the tradition of writers he admired: Edward Albee and especially Eugene O'Neill. Norén has never concealed his admiration for O'Neill’s work and is clearly inspired by O'Neill’s themes in his own work.

 

After the family dramas, Norén began to write various different pieces, socially critical portraits in which society’s underdogs play the leading role, such as prisoners in 7:3 or psychiatric patients in A Kind of Hades. The latter is probably his most well-known and more probing of his social pieces.

 

In addition to writing plays, Norén also writes poetry and prose, and directs performances across Europe. He was artistic director of the Riksteatern and the Folkteatern.

 

Eirik Stubø Director/Artistic Director
Born in 1965, Eirik Stubø has been the CEO and Artistic Director at The Royal Dramatic Theatre since 2015. From 1985 to 1991, he got his Master’s degree in Political Science, Philosophy and English at the University in Oslo and Tromso. From 1991 to 1994, he was trained as director of theatre at the National Academy of Arts in Oslo. Thereafter, he has directed several productions at numerous theatres.

Eirik Stubø was the Managing Director at Rogaland Theatre in Stavanger from 1994 to 1997, the Managing Director at the National Theatre in Oslo from 2000 to 2009 and the artistic leader of the International Ibsen Festival and the Stockholm City Theatre from 2013 to 2014.

 

Dramaten (The Royal Dramatic Theatre)
The Royal Dramatic Theatre as an institution was founded in May 1788 by King Gustav III. His ambition was to “establish a national stage, where the works of Swedish dramatists will be performed for the public by Swedish actors to the benefit of language, taste and the public mores.” The most famous of Dramaten's contemporary directors was Ingmar Bergman, who was also Artistic Director during the years 1963-1966. Ingmar Bergman debuted at Dramaten in 1951 with Light in the Shack and in 2002 his farewell play, Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, premiered. The Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival is an international theatre festival in the spirit of Ingmar Bergman. The next edition took place in 2016.