Vadstena Academy Summer Opera

In the opera we meet Ellen Key - a real historical figure - but also snakes, talking books, and flowers. Key fought for every child's right to education, women's independence, and for peace, freedom, justice, and democracy. Abroad she is celebrated, but at home in Sweden she must battle her enemies - the snakes - who with mockery and deadly criticism seek to silence her. It is said that no one has been caricatured as much as Ellen Key, or Hanna Paj as August Strindberg called her.

The opera is not merely a dream play but also a mirror of our own time, where the courage to think freely still demands that someone dares to defy the snakes - even when the price is a life of solitude.

Music: Daniel Fjellström. Libretto: Maria Sundqvist.