Lease, Bryce (2025) Adapting Stig Dagerman’s German Autumn: An Interview with Anna Takanen and Stig Hansén. Contemporary Theatre Review Print ISSN 1048-6801 Online ISSN 1477-2264, 35 (1). pp. 54-60. ISSN 1477-2264

Abstract

In the Lilla scenen of Uppsala Stadsteater (City Theatre), a haunting echo of the past emerged, meticulously stitched from the pages of Stig Dagerman’s raw recounting of post-war Germany, German Autumn, a series of articles for the newspaper Expressen collected as a book published in 1947 that has never been out of print. Dagerman was considered a wunderkind of the Swedish literary scene that included writers Erik Lindegren and Karl Vennberg. While many of Dagerman’s literary works and plays have been staged, this is the first theatrical adaptation of German Autumn. The adaptation is less a homage to Dagerman than a critical engagement with his reflections on the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in Germany – referred to by Harald Jähner as the ‘Time of Wolves’ – often pushed aside in hushed tones and shameful silences. Director, Anna Takanen, and dramatist and journalist, Stig Hansén, have taken up the demanding task of adapting a work without the usual fictional scaffolding, crafting a cohesive narrative tapestry out of Dagerman’s travel essays. In this interview, Bryce Lease discusses the adaptation with Takanen and Hansén about their exploration of loss, redemption, guilt, shame, and humour in a landscape laid waste by war.