‘There is no shame in deriving pleasure from this little world.’
Siblings Fanny and Alexander are growing up amidst the gilded romance and glamour of 1900s Sweden. But their world is turned upside down when their widowed mother remarries the iron-willed local bishop. As creative freedom and rigid orthodoxy clash, a war ensues between imagination and austerity in this magical study of childhood, family and love.
Legendary film-maker Ingmar Bergman’s 1982 masterpiece Fanny & Alexander was adapted for the stage by Stephen Beresford. It premiered at The Old Vic, London, in 2018, in a production starring Penelope Wilton and directed by Old Vic Associate Director Max Webster.
Stephen Beresford is the BAFTA award-winning screenwriter of Pride. His other plays include The Last of the Haussmans, which premiered at the National Theatre.
‘A sprawling family saga… a Chekhovian fairytale with cautionary moral extremes and dollops of life-affirming merriment’
— Daily Mail
‘A richly nourishing saga’
— Evening Standard
‘A pretty tremendous achievement… possessed of a surging emotional swoop and visual audacity that bursts its way into your heart’
— Time Out
‘A sumptuous stage representation of Ingmar Bergman’s classic movie’
— British Theatre Guide
‘Engrossing and rewarding… a truly effective slice of theatre’
— WhatsOnStage
‘A fast-moving family saga… a faithful adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s celebration of theatre, fantasy and family life’
— Guardian
‘Colourful and involving… what casts a glow is the evocation of love – flawed, fallible people taking risks, making sacrifices and suffering hurts for one another – and the joys and consolations of fantasy… a touching family drama, and a profane hymn to dreamers, players and tellers of tales’
— The Stage
