Fanny and Alexander
Based on the film by written and directed by Ingmar Bergman
Adapted by Stephen Beresford
Dates: Thursday 5th June to Saturday 7th June.
Times: All evening performances will begin at 19:30. All matinee performances will begin at 14:30pm. Please note that a matinee performance will take place on Saturday 7th June.
Venue: PATS Studio Theatre
Duration: Approximately 1 hour 20 minutes including a 15 minute interval
Synopsis: Ingmar Bergman’s cinematic drama is an epic autobiographical family saga set in Sweden in the gilded 1900s. Stephen Beresford’s adaptation brings to the stage all of the magic, fun, sensuality and intense emotion of Bergman’s film.
Siblings Fanny and Alexander grow up in a household of theatre folk, a world full of warmth and theatrical joy bound together by their adored grandmother and legendary actress Helena Ekdahl. But when their father dies unexpectedly, their widowed mother Emilie remarries the stern, authoritarian local bishop Vergérus, and their world is turned upside down. Their once vibrant lives become stifled by the bishop’s oppressive rule. Creative freedom collides with religious orthodoxy, and in the ensuing war between imaginative liberty and rigid authority, between freedom and harsh discipline, the children must figure out a way to escape.
Fanny and Alexander is a deeply emotional and visually stunning tale of family, memory, and the transformative power of art and imagination in the face of hardship. The play delves into the tensions between freedom and oppression, as well as the enduring power of the human spirit to survive and heal.
Genre: theatrical, period family saga
Age Recommendation: 12 and above
Themes: Childhood, family, theatre, illusion, dreams, memory and death (ghosts), religion, freedom of the imagination
Setting: Early 20th-century Sweden
This live production features MA Acting final year students in collaboration with BA Theatre Production and MA Stage Management students.
Director: Zoe Waterman
Set Designer: Tara Usher
Costume Designer: Tara Usher
Lighting Designer: Alex Musgrave
Sound Designer: Zachary Woodman
If you require accessible seating or have any other enquiries including booking difficulties, please email:
[email protected] or call 01483 686876.
This amateur production of 'Fanny and Alexander' is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International. All authorised performance materials are also supplied by MTI www.mtishows.co.uk
