The Diva and the Demon : Ingmar Bergman Directs The Rose Tattoo

• In this article Dirk Gindt discusses Ingmar Bergman’s 1951 production of Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo in the small Swedish town of Norrköping, demonstrating how Bergman methodically ignored the tragicomic nature of the play in order to develop and exaggerate its comic and grotesque elements. After extensive cuts and alterations in the script, the character Serafina delle Rose became even more overpowering than in the original text and dominated the action from beginning to end. Karin Kavli, a leading lady in Swedish post-war theatre and a frequent collaborator with Bergman, played the character not as a mourning widow but as a possessed disciple of Dionysus in an unabashedly entertaining and sexualized production which, despite reservations from critics, became a success with audiences.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Scenkonst (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Performing Arts (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Tennessee Williams

Karin Kavli

Swedish post-war theatre

the grotesque

sexuality

Theatre Studies

teatervetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)