A nightmarish thriller about superiority and inferiority
By Marie Ndiaye. Director: Gustav Englund.
Mrs. Lemarchand needs a housekeeper and chooses Hilda. Hilda must take care of the home, the house and also love Lemarchand's children more than her own. But that is not enough. Lemarchand demands Hilda's friendship, wants to teach her politics and to think independently. After a while, Hilda is kept in the house around the clock.
A nightmarish thriller about superiority and inferiority where the human body is a commodity and where manual labor has become the only way to freedom. Hilda is about class, racism and the longing for recognition.
Directed by Gustav Englund, one of the members of the performing arts collective K. Polyfon. They are now introducing the prized French writer Marie NDiaye to the Swedish theater audience.
"In Sweden, social mobility has been at a standstill for a long time and economic inequality has increased for decades. I think of that when I read NDiaye's claustrophobic play. The roles seem stuck in a social situation that inexorably intrudes further and further into them. It affects their bodies and language. Their relationships. Creates an experience of alienation. Emptiness. Fatigue. But in the text there is at the same time something that grows, a possible way out, a rebellion," says director Gustav Englund.
Premiere on 10 February 2024. Plays until 10 March 2024
(c) Ola Kjelbye
