section Nordic Jewish Focus

MISCHMASCH

  • Uta Arning
  • SE
  • 2023
  • 28

A play of contrasts: an amateur theatre group stages August Strindberg’s A Dream Play – in Yiddish! Of all works, this one is often considered humourless, and its author is regarded by some as antisemitic.

Swedish theatre director Judith Hollander adapts the 1901 classic with the help of the grotesque traditions of Yiddish theatre. The experiment allows not only the actors—some of whom have known each other for decades—to flourish as they transform their Stockholm stage into their own little piece of Broadway.

Beyond simply observing the creation of this unusual production, the film evolves into a portrait of a group of people whose passion for theatre and the Yiddish language is grounded in years of shared experience—and in a sensibility that embraces the world with a gentle touch of irony.


Part of the Nordic Jewish Focus Short Film Programme.


Credits

original title MISCHMASCH

international title MISCHMASCH

german title MISCHMASCH

JFBB section Nordic Jewish Focus

  • director Uta Arning

country/countries SE

year 2023

duration 28