A National Theatre Decentralized: Sweden’s Three-and-a-half National Theatres

Abstract

A look at a Swedish theatre map shows that there are, indeed, three-and-a-half National Theatres. The oldest one is the Royal Theatre, i.e. the Opera, founded in 1773 by King Gustavus III. The same king also established the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in 1788, although this seems to have happened more by accident. One-and-a-half centuries later, in 1934, the Swedish state started a new National Theatre, called the Swedish National Touring Theatre (Riksteatern) to provide theatrical performances all over Sweden. The latest addition to National Theatres is the National Mission for Children’s Theatre, which is a special subsidy directed towards one company at a time for a period of three years. Since 1997, four national leading theatres have been commissioned to extend their engagement with children’s theatre. It could be seen as ‘almost’ a national institution, even though it is distributed with a kind of democratic flexibility. On and off, there has also been a Norwegian Sami National Theatre, to which Sweden has contributed with performers, audiences and funds.