The purpose of this study - Actors, costumes and agreements - is to highlight an almost forgotten part of the history of theatre costume and theatre history.  During at least two hundred years actors in Sweden were expected to contribute to the performance by their costumes. The study is divided into three parts: agreements, memoirs and conversation. Nine agreements between theatres and actors from 1778 to 1971 will be analyzed with focus on costumes. What do they express about the period, fashion and repertoire, audience? The theatres demand of the actors could be very detailed and shifting. Three memoire books and conversation with seven actors represent the actors view. Questions arise about actors poor economy, theatre culture and gender. The study will also show periods with connection between fashion and theatre costume.

The issue of this thesis concerns a selection of historical debates in which new Swedish drama is under discussion. The studied debates take place in the cultural and political fields and within the fields of theater and literature and deal with a recurring assumption in Swedish theatre history – that new Swedish drama is insufficient. The primary object of this thesis is to find explanations to: why is the Swedish new drama so often described as defective? The following questions, guiding the analysis, are: How are the crises described? What are the stakes? How has the dramatic text been influenced by being judged either as literary product or a product for the stage? How is the playwright’s role described, and perhaps changed, in the crises? The aim of the analysis is to understand how traditions and conventions are shaping the debates and contribute to perpetrate the myth of the malfunctioning Swedish new play. In a historical perspective several attempts have been made to govern new Swedish drama by legislative and political power. New Swedish drama has, for example, been viewed as a possible expression of the nation, as part of shaping the Swedish Welfare state or creating interactive communication with the audience. Despite its many uses, new Swedish drama continues to be describes as flawed. The study starts with King Gustav III:s Swedish theatre where the purpose was to produce Swedish original plays. The study ends with an analysis of a new government grant for new Swedish drama, which was installed in 1999. The chosen debates are analyzed with the help of concepts borrowed from the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, looking at each historical situation as a possible moment for the establishment of the field ”new Swedish drama”. The survey ends with eight interviews with playwrights, who are active today. The conditions for the new Swedish drama are the guiding line in this thesis. These conditions are found in the cultural, social and historical contexts that cooperate when a taste or convention is being shaped. They are part of the discourses in the field, where criteria for the new Swedish drama is formulated. In order to understand the significance of, for example, the expression, ”the newly written Swedish drama” research has been pursued in biographical material, historical surveys, and debates in the daily press and in professional journals. Without being a full bourdieuan analysis, the thesis is using concepts from Bourdieu. The work of British feminist theatre historian Tracy C Davis inspires the critical historic perspective.

This thesis addresses the theatrical establishment in Kristinehamn during the long 19th century, with notable focus between the years 1835-1902. The thesis seeks to identify an overall picture of the theatrical influence in the city through an understanding of theatrical occurrences during the chosen timeline. Through Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural capital, the thesis aims to uncover to whom the theatrical establishment was targeted. Finally, a comparative aspect can present itself by comparing the results with previously established theater-historical research. Thus, the thesis can add to the already existing understanding of the theatrical historical research from a local perspective.     The approach is divided amongst three different research questions, all of which has one or more methods applied to them. The methods consist of both qualitative and quantitative aspects. When comparing the local perspective with the broader, national one, an abductive method has been used to identify the similarities or differences between results. The source material has been gathered from three main sources: the collections of Linus Brodin, Kristinehamns’ image archive and theatre advertisements or reviews from local daily newspapers. Brodins’ archive consists of an assortment of different types of documents, such as plays, Bills of Sales, stock letters or posters. The advertisements have been found through computer-assisted analysis via the National Library of Sweden’s database for digitalized newspapers.     The study gave extensive results that give satisfying answers to the formed research questions. Kristinehamn constructed theatres during two different occurrences, once in 1835, which then burned to the ground during the great fire in 1893, and then later in the year 1902. The city closely follows the results of previous theatre historical research, especially when comparing the results to the nearby city of Karlstad. There are just a few exceptions when it comes to a lack of visits from certain popular directors or in how some theatre administrative boards were built up. There were plenty of traveling theatre companies that visited the city, which performed a minimum of 268 different plays throughout the research period. The most popular genre was by far different variations of comedy. There is backing evidence for the theory that Kristinehamn consisted of two different culture practicing groups, the Cultural Elite, and the Cultural Novice: though the distinctions between them from decennium to decennium are vague. The results do show a clear indication that the theatre as a medium for both entertainment and practicing got more and more accessible throughout the 19th century. / Denna uppsats behandlar Kristinehamns teaterverksamhet under det långa 1800-talet, med särskilt fokus mellan åren 1835–1902. Studiens syfte är att analysera historiska skeenden för att skapa en helhetsbild utav teaterlivet i Kristinehamn samt genom Pierre Bourdieus kapitalbegrepp undersöka hur tillgänglig teatern var för den bredare massan. Utöver detta ämnar undersökningen även föra en komparativ aspekt, där resultaten ställs mot tidigare teaterhistorisk forskning. Studien bidrar således till den teaterhistoriska forskningen utifrån ett lokalhistoriskt perspektiv.         Arbetssättet för genomförandet av undersökningen är uppdelad utefter tre forskningsfrågeställningar. Samtliga frågeställningar har applicerats en eller flera metoder. Dessa metoder består av både kvalitativ analys av källmaterialet samt kvantitativa framställningar. Ytterligare en metod som använts i undersökningen är den abduktiva forskningsmetoden som använts för att ställa undersökningsresultatet mot ett större sammanhang. Källmaterialet består av insamlat material från Linus Brodins samlingar i Föreningsarkivet i Värmland, från Kristinehamns bildarkiv samt från teaterannonser och recensioner i dagspress från Kristinehamn. Linus Brodins samlingar innehåller bland annat köpekontrakt, lottbrev, affischer och manus. Annonserna har framtagits genom att applicera ett kodschema för sökning i Kungliga bibliotekets databas för svenska dagstidningar.     Undersökningen gav ett mycket omfattande resultat som på gott vis besvarar samtliga tre forskningsfrågeställningar. Kristinehamn lät uppföra teaterhus vid två olika tillfällen, ett 1835 som brann ned i stadsbranden 1893, samt ett annat teaterhus år 1902. Staden följer tidigare teaterhistorisk forskning nära, särdeles med den närliggande staden Karlstad. Några få undantag gällande populära besökande direktörer eller sammansättning av teaterbolag existerar. De kringresande teatersällskapen var många och gav ett minimum på 268 olika pjäser genom undersökningsperioden. Den mest populära genren var komedin. Det finns underlag för att kategorisera Kristinehamnarnas kulturutövare i två fack, kultureliten respektive kulturnovisen; men kategoriseringen av dessa från decennium till decennium är diffus. Dock visar resultatet att teatern blev alltmer tillgänglig för fler och fler personer under 1800-talets gång.