About The Show

In 1794, Carl Michael Bellman finds himself in jail. His life has just gone from the greatest happiness to the greatest misery. After finally managing to publish his magnum opus, he has lost his protector King Gustav III, been caught by his creditors and thrown in jail.

A year later, his wife, Lovisa Fredrica, is a widow. Despite her late husband's popularity and the rapid sales of his poetry, she and the family are left in poverty. Her husband's life and art has become the property of everyone else, and she can no longer recognize the man she married in the stories told.

Lovisa Fredrica decides to tell the true story. She starts by reading from Bellman's autobiography, and soon she gets support in the storytelling from her late husband. Together they revel in the memories and songs, re-enacting them and communicating a richer and more complete picture of what really happened.

The story told through Bellman's songs describes a multi-faceted human being and artist. His poetry captures everything from crude jokes and drinking binges to dramatic life stories and timeless feelings. We invite the audience to experience this great poet, mimic, comedian and entertainer.

To bring the audience as close to Bellman as possible, we strive for historical accuracy in diction, musical interpretation, dramatic expression, comedy and mimicry. For context, we perform some of the songs of the time which influenced Bellman, and we are accompanied throughout by lute, Bellman's instrument of choice.

The performance is just over an hour long, excluding intermission. The script is in English, but the songs are performed in the original Swedish. Translations of the songs are available as needed.

Our audience has been enthusiastic at performances in Sweden and in the U.S. Bellman's music and poetry enchants, his life story fascinates and his sense of humour entertains - regardless of nationality, language or century!