VILLA VILSE WITH TEATER INC
Through the Villa Vilse project, which has been granted support in the 2025 Signatur Foundation Sweden Programme, Teater Inc wants to bring older and younger people together and explore what these encounters can offer in terms of joie de vivre, courage, experience and energy.
Based on older and younger people’s stories about their respective dreams for the future, a dance and music theatre performance is created, inspired by the interaction between young and old, which gives the audience insight and awareness to continue working against age segregation in today’s society.
ELDERLY
Through study circles with elderly participants, research is conducted and the project team draws inspiration, while the seniors also gain influence over the stories that emerge. During the process, educators collaborate with staff and elderly participants. Conversations explore topics such as life as a pensioner, the changes that occur when we stop working, and how our identity changes. What happens to us when we lose loved ones, and how do we feel about facing death ourselves?
Based on the documentary stories, the project’s playwright Cristina Gottfridsson, in collaboration with director and project manager Ronny Danielsson, creates a fictional universe with ten fictional characters who form the backbone of a theatre performance.
YOUNG PEOPLE
During the project, working materials will be created that can inspire teachers to engage in discussions and activities about generations. Through school visits or collaborations with teachers who collect students’ stories, the project team asks upper secondary school students to talk about their dreams and visions for the future. In the performance ‘Villa Vilse’, stories from young and older project participants come together in a work that depicts the similarities and differences in different generations’ views on life.
The performance will be staged by Teater Inc in Malmö, and the plan is for all secondary school classes that want to and are able to do so to have the opportunity to experience the performance and then, back at school, continue the conversation about issues relating to generations and the future.
AUDIENCE
In the final part of the project, the finished two-act performance – filled with vitality and energy, humour and seriousness in many moving stories – will meet its audience. Teater Inc will arrange for both younger and older people to come and enjoy the performance.
Making the performance accessible to older people requires long-term preparation, suitable performance times, chartered buses and, above all, a moving performance that those who have been involved in the project’s discussions can relate to. Teater Inc will collaborate with local secondary schools on theatre visits, so that young and old have the opportunity to share the experience in the theatre at the same time.
The performances will also be open to the general public, and there are plans to stream the performance to give more people the opportunity to take part in the project and experience the spectacle.
FORM
The artistic team wants to explore how words, silence and music become equal parts of the performance, which combines recorded music and voices with live performances.
Music will play a crucial role, primarily as a dramatic/dramaturgical engine. Music genres and styles will meet and confront each other: classical music and opera will meet house, funk, rap, crunk, indie, pop punk and various forms of multicultural music.
THE PROCESS
During the preparatory work in 2025, material has been collected through meetings with older people and visits to secondary schools. The project’s playwright, director and choreographer will then create a drama from the stories and a workshop will be organised with the older actors. The team will map out the intended audience and develop a concept for the performance.
Autumn 2025 was devoted to rehearsals and production of the play and music, as well as work to find new audiences. Amateurs were engaged as collaborators and a suitable theatre venue was identified and booked. Set design, costumes and props were presented. Production of set design, props and costumes began.
During the winter and spring of 2026, rehearsals continued and the whole thing began to take shape when professional dancers were hired. The rehearsals were followed by the premiere and a run of performances.
THE TEAM
The team also brings together different generations, with two professionals in most roles, which in itself presents an exciting challenge. Artists with many years of experience and knowledge meet newly trained colleagues with the energy to explore untried paths in the artistic process. The project team includes playwright Cristina Gottfridsson, director and project manager Ronny Danielsson, director Rasmus Mononen, choreographers Roger Lybeck and Gustav Mardelius, costume designers Camilla Thulin and Leif Persson, and set designer Martin Chocholousek. The project will also employ interns from relevant educational programmes in several other creative, educational, and administrative roles.
ABOUT TEATER INC
The non-profit association Teater Inc is a contemporary folk theatre in the heart of Malmö with a national focus.
Under the leadership of Ronny Danielsson, one of Sweden’s most prolific and relevant theatre directors, and a team of established artists, Teater Inc combines all media of the performing arts – text, design, movement, music and visual elements – to create dynamic, innovative and relevant theatre experiences.
Read more about Teater Inc and ‘Villa Vilse’ on the website https://www.teaterinc.org/.
