I was one of the founding members of the Studio Ensemble in 1987, and I was one of the few who were still left in the end. I was in five performances as an actor and I organized a tour to the Soviet Union and a few special performances.
The ensemble was created as a free theatre group by us who left the Theatrestudio that year, after we had been playing our final production ”The Hangman” at the theatre festival in Avignon. As soon as we came home from Avignon the whole group went to Falun (in the country) for a training week and to form the group. We also got the space that later became our theatre “Salong Katakomb” after a lot of renovations and extensions.

In the beginning we thought that the group would be tied tightly
to the Theatrestudio, but pretty soon it became an entirely independent, self-governed theatre group under the guidance of Lars-Åke Kastling. The only straight connection that was left to the Theatrestudio was that many of us started to work there at regular basis. And after Lars-Åke left the Studio Ensemble in 1990 the group started to function more as a forum for physical theatre, where each member ran their own projects. We also rented out the theatre to groups that we found interesting, arranged workshops and cooperation between groups. The number of members varied from three as the least up to 17 persons.

The performances that I took part in with the Studio Ensemble were the following:

BÖDELN (The Hangman)
BÖDELN (The Hangman) by Pär Lagerkvist. The performance was created from the book and not from the script by Pär Lagerkvist. It was built in three parts. The first one takes place in a medieval inn where the Hangman sits as one of the guests in a corner. It was played in half masks. The second part takes place in a nightclub in a mixture of modern and pre Nazi time. The Hangman appears here more like a god or a Greek hero in humanity's adoration of violence and evil. The last part is a long speech by the Hangman, where he explains his task, his lack of understanding for love and his own wish to obliterate.
I played the lead and Ulf Ekeram directed the performance with the assistance of Lars-Åke Kastling .

REQUIEM FÖR ANSIKTEN (Requiem for Faces)
REQUIEM FÖR ANSIKTEN (Requiem for Faces), a performance created by the Ensemble under the guidance of Lars-Åke Kastling and with texts from, among others, Monica Braw. The performance was about death in general and about Hiroshima more particularly. It was a very physical performance made in the form of a collage.
No one in the ensemble played any named role. The characters were worked out after the actors in improvis-ation and training instead.

STACKEN (The Anthill)
I have unfortunately not found any pictures from this show.
STACKEN (The Anthill) it was a Commedia dell'Arte performance and the first one that I played in, it really acquired the taste. It was a long performance (45 minutes) to be a streets show. The plot was a very simplified allegory about immigration in Sweden. It took place in an anthill that needed help with the egg-laying.
Lars-Åke Kastling was directing this show too. I played "Bullen", a sort of Swedish Arlecchino.

ETT DRÖMSPEL (a Dreamplay)
ETT DRÖMSPEL (a Dreamplay), by August Strindberg. This was an experimental performance with only four actors, the set was a big cloth and we also used puppet for the deans.
The director was Bitte Unelius. I played the Lawyer, the Quarantine master, the Glazier/the Father, the Billposter, two of the deans among others.

VAR ÄR TOALETTEN? (Where is the toilette?)
VAR ÄR TOALETTEN? (Where is the toilette?),a collage or rather cabaret based on Gregory Corso's poem "Marriage", but also with texts from Tom Waits, Povel Ramel, myself, Charles Bukowski, Tom Lehrer among others. It was all about the agony to decide upon whether to marry or not, played by only two actors.
This show has never been played as a whole, even though all the parts of it have been played at different times. I and the ensemble gave and took directions.

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