Lars Norén : Dramatikern

Sammanfattning: Swedish theatre around 1970 was socially committed and experimental, in a vibrant time of new forms within an ideological climate. This context forms a paradoxical and important backdrop to Lars Norén’s great success as a traditional, yet innovative playwright in the 1980s. Lars Norén made his debut as a poet in 1963 and as a playwright in 1973, with Fursteslickaren at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. In this dissertation, I examine Norén’s work as a playwright, and how it took place and developed in his contacts with the theatre, its directors, dramaturgists and actors, from his debut until Personkrets 3:1 in 1998. During this period, Norén tried different methods in search of a stronger and more true sense of reality on the stage. His breakthrough came in 1982, with Natten är dagens mor, and the subsequent plays kept the same focus on family relationships and psychology in a performative language. Norén’s role as a contemporary playwright is investigated and illuminated through studies of archival material, drafts, reviews and interviews. Norén became immensely important to Swedish theatre, and the role of the theatre as institution in shaping the view of Norén’s plays is of equal importance. This dialectical movement had an impact on Norén as a dramatist as well as on the Swedish acting tradition; Norén reclaimed and renewed a mimetic tradition that had been absent during the 1970s. Norén’s exceptionally extensive body of work, both in terms of the number of plays and in terms of his often lengthy first drafts, problematizes the view of playwrighting and, more importantly, invites theatres to function in dialogue and as co-creators.