Yesterday I visited the last performance of this year’s Spexet from Umesperxarna. Spexet refers to a troupe of non-professional student actors who normally rehearse and stage one self-written play per year. These performances are very popular in Sweden; they combine the passion of an amateur theater with the hilarious improvisational performance of a stand-up-comedian.

This year, Umespexarna staged “Franksa Revolutionen” – the French Revolution:

Tänk er ett land kontrollerat av en envåldshärskare, vars ätt styrt över riket så länge någon kan minnas och som regerar med dekret från ett slott en bra bit utanför huvudstaden. Nej, det är inte Sverige vi talar om utan Frankrike anno 1789 och en tid då revolutionen låg i luften.
(Umespexarna)

Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and Maximilien Robespierre are the well-known characters of the historical event. The re-written story introduces the Swedish king as a wild Viking and opens with a concatenation of the Marseillaise and ABBA’s Waterloo. Can this be a good sign?

The audience has the power: Interjections provoke the actors to speak higher, “drunker” or even in German, to act faster or backwards.
I understood probably less than 10 percent, but I had great fun anyway. The play lives on the various songs and dances. I especially want to highlight the fabulous quintet which their clear voices and sophisticated arrangements and lyrics (well, as far as I can assess them).

I spend 70+20 SEK for a funny and cultural Sunday afternoon. So what?