''Tältprojektet'' – ''The Tent Project'' (

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, 1977) was a musical theater performance on the history of the Swedish

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

, which toured the country the summer of 1977 in a huge

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

tent A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using g ...

. The group included over 100 people, musicians, actors, and members of some of the biggest

progg Progg was a left-wing and anti-commercial musical movement in Sweden that began in the late 1960s and became more widespread in the 1970s. Not to be confused with the English expressions "progressive music" or "prog rock," progg is a contraction ...

bands of Sweden at the time, most notable

Nationalteatern Nationalteatern is a Swedish progg rock group from the 1970s that featured leftist political lyrics. It was originally a traveling theater ensemble with many members, most notably Ulf Dageby, Anders Melander, Totta Näslund, Nikke Ström, Han ...

. The Tent Project was a radical, leftist political movement, but it included different political groups from

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

to different types of

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

and

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

. The story of the approximately four-hour play was on the history of the Swedish working class movement from 1879 to the present (1977), and the cast of characters included

August Palm August Teodor Palm (5 February 1849 – 14 March 1922) was a Swedish socialist activist and a key person in introducing the then revolutionary social democratic labour movement in Sweden. Life Early activism The son of a school teacher ...

Kata Dalström Anna Maria Katarina "Kata" Dalström, née Carlberg (18 December 1858 – 11 December 1923), was a Swedish socialist and writer. She belonged to the leading socialist agitators and leftist writers in contemporary Sweden, and has been referred to a ...

Hjalmar Branting Karl Hjalmar Branting (; 23 November 1860 – 24 February 1925) was a Swedish politician who was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) from 1907 until his death in 1925, and three times Prime Minister of Sweden. When Branting c ...

and

Zeth Höglund Carl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund (29 April 1884 – 13 August 1956) was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor (''finansborgarråd'') of Stockholm (1940–1950). Höglund can be credited as t ...

. The central story telling character was ''the beggar'', played by Totta Näslund. Another major role was played by

Sven Wollter Sven Justus Fredrik Wollter (11 January 1934 – 10 November 2020) was a Swedish actor, writer, and political activist. Wollter is one of the most renowned Swedish actors, he was awarded Best Swedish actor twice. In his native country, he becam ...

who, as ''the clown'', was sort of the host of the show. Most of the songs performed in the Tent Project were written by

Ulf Dageby Ulf Thorbjörn Dageby (10 May 1944 – 16 July 2024) was a Swedish rock musician, singer and songwriter. Dageby was best known for his role in the leftist "rock orchestra" and theater ensemble Nationalteatern, which toured for the final time in 2 ...

. The tour made 82 performances, and over 100,000 people went to see the show, as it toured through almost every city in Sweden and some in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Some of the songs were later released on an LP. Some of the most notable songs from Tältprojektet are ''Aldrig mera krig'' (Never War Again) and ''Vi äro tusenden'' (We are thousands), both sung by Totta Näslund and written by

Cast

Some of the most notable of the people who performed in ''Tältprojektet''.

Cast

References

Further reading