Norrbottensteatern: Stage story about the megastar Jenny Lind

When director Michaela Granit read the biography of world-renowned soprano Jenny Lind, the image behind the megastar emerged: a fighter with a tough background and a complex relationship with her mother. She wanted to highlight that image in the production of Nightingale.

The performance is based on Ingela Tägil's book Näktergalen. A biography of Jenny Lind. A few years ago, Michaela was given the book by theatre director Gunilla Röör. At the time, she didn't know much about Jenny Lind, other than that she was a brilliant soprano with her own portrait on the fifty-kronor note.

But when she read the book, she was captivated by how Ingela Tägil showed the picture behind the world-famous opera star; her background, the view at the time that she was born out of wedlock, but also the complex relationship with her mother.

– The context is so important. The book begins with the mother filing for divorce from the first man she lives with. Then comes Jenny. All this power that is in the mother. This biography goes behind the image. Then you can start to feel that this can be made into a stage story, says Michaela.

Parallel to today's celebrity

She sees the story as three layers; Jenny Lind's life arc, the image behind the success, and the hard work to constantly improve.

– The struggle she had, like all artists have. You can be as talented as you want, but there has to be a tremendous amount of willpower behind wanting to get better, says Michaela.
She also sees a parallel to today's celebrity and the way women were viewed at that time.

– You project something onto all celebrities, and I thought that was interesting too. This innocent nightingale, innocent girl. It was perfect to project everything onto her. An innocent girl who sings all these fantastic roles with a high, beautiful voice. That image lives on. What Ingela Tägil does is she goes behind that image. That's what I was hooked on. The contrast between these two pieces. Then it starts to get exciting to tell her story.

Karin Paulin as Jenny Lind.

Three sides of Jenny

The framework from the theater was that the production would be done with three actors and three musicians, and that gave Michaela the idea to do the production in a form that shows three sides of Jenny: the little child Jenny who is torn between her mother's arms and a foster home, the young Jenny who is discovered, and the fighter who makes it through and becomes the singer and the stage persona. But there is always a longing for a home.

– It becomes a huge driving force in her life, so much is about survival too.
Using the narrative form with the three sides of Jenny Lind has been a very fun form to work with, says Michaela.

- It is challenging and interesting to work with and demands its actresses. And I have them. They are fantastic. For these three roles, it is necessary to master the singing, the opera and the acting. And Kristine, Karin and Hanna do that. It is a prerequisite for being able to do a performance like this.

Lotta Nilsson, costume designer.

During the idea presentation this spring, Michaela showed various mood boards with images of Jenny Lind, but also inspiration images of artworks by William Turner and Mark Rohtko.

– I often work like that when I get assignments like this. I fill myself with an incredible amount. Then there are different layers as a director that I work with. The visual, pictorial, and movement are important. I get a lot of inspiration from art.
The spatial design and choreography have also been incredibly important, says Michaela.

– The stage space is like a twisted stage. The space shifts both life in front of and behind the stage itself. You can go in and out. It changes constantly so that it becomes a kind of organic movement.

Newly written music

She describes the production as a hybrid of musical theater, opera and performance, and highlights Tomas Isacsson's newly written music with "a 1800th-century tone" as an important ingredient.
The operatic elements also make for a different work process where every working day requires rehearsals with a lot of singing technique and music.

– But I always have to lay the foundation, design.

Text: Andrea Thur
Photos: Magnus Stenberg
Rehearsal pictures: Josefin Wiklund

Facts about the Nightingale

Playing until December 21st on stage 2 and on tour in Norrbotten and Västerbotten.

contribute: Hanna Edh, Kristine Gulbrandsen and Karin Paulin.
Musician: Tomas Isacsson (piano) Göran Fröberg (clarinet, bass clarinet, flute) and Samuel Lundström (violin).

Freely based on the book The Nightingale. A biography of Jenny Lind, by Ingela Tägil.
Concept, adaptation and direction: Michaela Granite
Script: Rasmus Lindberg
Composer: Tomas Isacsson, conductor
Scenography: Mona Knutsdotter
Costume design: Lotta Nilsson
Mask: Isabel Lofgren Roberts
Lyus: Calle Martensson
Sound: Arnaud Spicq
Singing coach: Carina Stenberg

Costume studio and workshops
Cutter: Therese Nilsson
Seamstress: Susanne Öhman
Tailor: Arvid Sandin
Carpenter: Peter Tjernqvist
Forging: Torulf Öhman
Attribute: Kristin Danielsson
Decorative painter: Kalle Nyman
Props: Hillevi Rhodin

Producer: Hans Eriksson
Technical Manager: Mats Lundstedt
Marketing and Sales Manager: Anna Thurfjell
Theatre manager and responsible publisher: Gunilla Roor

Michaela Granite

Currently the director of the performance Näktergalen which premiered on October 5th on stage 2. Has directed several notable theatre productions on Nordic stages, including Dramaten and Stadsteatern in Stockholm, the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki and the Norwegian National Theatre.

She has written plays, dramatized and staged the novel Svinalängorna and the anthology Lyckliga sult by Susanna Alakoski. At Norrbottensteatern she has previously directed Den stora elden by Roland Schimmelpfennig.