Lilla Beddinge Theatre presents Äppelkriget

In the summer of 2026, the musical Äppelkriget (The Apple War) will be staged at Lilla Beddinge Teater with support from Signatur. The project brings together professional actors, musicians and performing artists alongside a large number of volunteers, including a full choir, several children, carpenters and front-of-house staff.

Since March 2026, the choir — made up of local people from the theatre’s surrounding area with an interest in singing — has met every Sunday to rehearse both the music and the stage movement. The children have also met with the director and several actors in preparation for their musical and theatrical contributions to the production. With a compelling script and well-known music, there was a strong sense of anticipation when the professional actors, choir members and children gathered together for the first time on Sunday 17 May, marking the official start of rehearsals.

The combination of professional performers and amateur participants is an artistic choice. The story takes place in the here and now and is therefore carried by voices and bodies that themselves live within the reality being portrayed. The amateur choir represents a tangible collective with first-hand experience of how shared values are continually renegotiated in real time. The professionals contribute theatrical craft and structure, not in order to speak on behalf of the choir, but to formulate the work’s questions together with them. The collective expression thus becomes central to both the dramaturgy and the musical form. The artistic innovation lies in allowing the collective to carry both form and content, and in how the presence of the amateur choir shifts the balance of power within the performance space.

The project has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response from the public. More than half of the tickets have already been booked — something highly unusual for productions of this kind — and many audience members will be visiting the theatre for the very first time.

With support from Signatur, this project can become a reality. Approximately 3,000 people are expected to experience the production in a place where similar cultural initiatives would otherwise not exist. The meeting between professional actors, amateurs and children has proven so enriching to the theatrical expression that it is our hope to continue developing this kind of work in the future, beginning with The Apple War.