548 
THE AMERICAN-SC AN DIN AVI AN REVIEW 
some of the most interesting productions have been seen during the 
past years. At one time this was undoubtedly the foremost theatre in 
Sweden, but it has suffered under the difficult conditions of the last 
few years; besides, Ranft has not followed a definite literary plan in 
the choice of his repertoire, but has chiefly been bent upon obtaining as 
great a success as possible, by presenting either Swedish plays or the 
most popular foreign plays, interchanged with a few classic pieces; 
like almost all other Swedish theatre managers he has at times been 
unduly severe to Swedish writers. Director Ranft himself is an excel- 
lent actor of farce, an inge¬ 
nious stage director, and a 
virile personality who in 
spite of his faults has made 
a mark in the history of the 
Swedish drama. It must, 
however, be admitted that 
he tries more to satisfy the 
public’s taste than to raise 
the standard of the stage. 
At Svenska teatern he pos¬ 
sesses in Gunnar Klintberg 
an able and highly cultivated 
stage manager, but with 
rather old-fashioned ideals; 
in Pauline Brunius he has 
the most brilliant Swedish 
comedienne, and in Gosta 
Ekman an excellent lover 
who, not satisfied with cheap 
victories, works energeti¬ 
cally towards artistic devel¬ 
opment. That he is a very 
promising actor is evident 
when one considers that 
aside from his own special parts he plays two so widely different roles 
as the vanished husband in the American farce The Green Elevator 
and old King Fredrik II in a German historic comedy entitled The 
King's Dancer (Barberina Campanini). A young tragedienne of 
unusually inspiring personality, Tora Teje, unfortunately has left the 
theatre after a disagreement with the management; she gave one of her 
best performances in another American play Rita Cavallina. 
What is missing in the theatres of Stockholm is an unswerving 
purpose on the part of the leaders. The plays produced are gen¬ 
erally popular foreign plays offered by the agencies, and whether 
or not they are liable to interest the Swedish public is rarely con- 
Pauline Brunius 
