Killer-Anders and his friends

Has it happened for real? Maybe not. But it might be true anyway.
– This is like a carnival of humanity on stage. Jonas tells a story about Sweden, but a different part of Sweden, says director Thomas Sundstrom.
Make sure you are secured when the curtain goes up on this unlikely story of Killer-Anders (and his friends).

Länsteatern on Gotland has the exclusive rights to turn Jonas Jonasson’s book in to a play. How it all came around is a slightly improbable story in itself:
– Jonas and I met in a strange way at a social gathering at the governor and talked a little tentatively about doing something together, says Thomas.
Said and done, Jonasson sent the manuscript, Sundstrom saw a great story, wrote a script – but realized that the theatre could not afford to buy the rights.
Jonasson generously took care of that matter.
– He wanted to help us, it’s a big thing for us. The show will be very funny, like a road movie at the theatre, says Sundström.

The character Killer-Anders and his friends is Länsteaterns version of Jonas Jonasson’s tale about people on the fringes of our society. An uncertain receptionist, a defrocked priest who finds worldly ways and the dreaded Killer-Anders forms an abandoned trio – and the basis for a scenic road movie on stage.

Tove Vahlne plays the role of the priest Johanna Kjellander.
– Imagine Bombi Bitt. Or Pippi Longstocking with a faltering confidence and without super powers. She does not accept the world as it is, and wants to change it.
Together with the disenchanted hotel receptionist Per Persson, played by Filip Johansson, they are a rare couple on a Swedish stage.
Janne Åström has the role as Killer-Anders:
– He is sensational in the role of Killer-Anders. He is a mix of juvenile naivety and tough guy.
I´s a show played in a fast pace with forty-seven different scenes where Lena Bogegård and Lennart Bäck portrays twenty nine different characters.
– I’ve never done a show with so many scenes and so many roles, says Sundström. I immediately saw images in front of me when I got the script.

The show asks questions about religion and spirituality and the expression that the church sometimes takes.
– This is about people who are abandoned and there is room for a kind of slow sadness in it. They find a kinship in people they trust. I think the audience will recognize themselves in the extreme.
What do you want people to talk about when they leave the theatre?
– That the most important thing is that you have a connection with others. You don´t have to be perfect, you can be the one you want. And that life is ever changing, there is nothing to keep you from make changes in your life, it’s never too late.