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Abducted at midnight gets Sweden premiere directed by Philip Zandén

By on April 11, 2017

Abducted at midnight is a newly written drama based on the true story of Hans Litten, the young lawyer who conducted a legendary cross-examination by Adolf Hitler in 1931 in Berlin, which had dire consequences. In the play, we follow his mother Irmgard Littens struggle to save her son in pre-war Nazi Germany. The play has been performed with great success on London’s West End. Now put’s the drama for the first time up in Sweden. The cast is: Bahador Foladi, Gunilla Röör, Allan Svensson, Niklas Falk, Pablo Leiva Wenger, Jonas C Wahlström, Samuel Fröler and Jan Mybrand. Sweden premiere April 27 at Stockholm House of Culture & City Theatre.

Berlin 1931. The young lawyer Hans Litten called Adolf Hitler to the witness stand. Forcing him with an ironic spoken to answer questions about violence among his followers. Demeans Hitler with the statute book.

Two years later takes Hitler the power in Germany. And the same night as the Reichstag building burns is Hans Litten picked up by the police, still wet with lather from the bath. He was imprisoned without trial.

His mother, Irmgard Litten will for many years to fight to get him free. A fight that will teach her a well-formed self-assured German woman, everything about powerlessness.

Abducted at midnight is written by acclaimed English playwright and documentary filmmaker Mark Hayhurst who also has made a documentary and a TV film about Hans Litten history. Hans Litten died in the Dachau concentration camp 1938.

– This story affects me tremendously. I cry every time I read it. For me it sets the issue of how we resist fascism and against all forms of abuse to a head. How brave am I today? What are we willing to do for our fellow man? We who represent civil society, how do we combat racism and fascism today? says Philip Zandén who directs.

Abducted at midnight had its world premiere at the Chichester Festival Theater in October 2014, and was transferred to the Royal Haymarket Theater on the West End in January 2015. The play received three Olivier nominations, including best new play and best actress. It has also been set up in Tel Aviv and on State Theater Nuremberg then with the famous actress Patricia Litten, granddaughter of Irmgard and niece of Hans Litten, in the role of the mother.

In the Swedish set we see Gunilla Röör in the role of Irmgard.

– I cried at our first joint script reading – this is the first time in my acting life as it happens. Irmgards voice speaks not only about the past – it challenges us to listen to our own time. The touch of this material evokes a sense of responsibility that do not have with their own art making. We become each other’s eyes again. But this time, perhaps the most important, says Gunilla Röör.

Patricia Litten and Mark Hayhurst comes to Stockholm for the premiere. Wednesday 26/4 they participating in a call in connection with the public dress rehearsal of Abducted at midnight.

ABDUCTED AT MIDNIGHT
by Mark Hayhurst

Sweden premiere April 27, 2017 at the Small Stage

By Mark Hayhurst
Translation Eva Ström
Director Philip Zandén
Set design Lars Östbergh
Costume Ann Bonander Looft
Mask Johanna Ruben
Sound Magnus Ericsson

In the roles
Hans Litten, lawyer Bahador Foladi
Irmgard Litten Gunilla Röör
Carl Ossietzky, a prisoner Allan Svensson
Erich Mühsam, prisoner Niklas Falk
Dr. Conrad, the Gestapo officer Pablo Leiva Wenger
Gustav Hammermann et Jonas C Wahlström (Intern from Theater University in Luleå)
Fritz Litten Samuel Fröler
Clifford Allen Jan Mybrand

Extras: Björn Widstrand, Jacques Karlberg, Magnus Hammer

Photographer: Ninja Hanna

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