Theatre, 1946

Rachel and the Cinema Doorman

In a tongue-in-check dialogue entitled Encounter and printed in the programme to Bergman's production of his play Rachel and the Cinema Doorman, playwright and director engage in a dispute with a clearly disarming purpose.
'As an author Ingmar Bergman is still in his puberty; as a director he is a mature artist.'
Frederik Schyberg, Stockholms-Tidningen

About the production

Before the autumn premiere of the play, Bergman wrote a letter to writer Herbert Grevenius that the piece was written after some of their conversations that spring.

I travelled home with a deep certainty about the existence of God, a certainty encircled by big black clouds of trial and tribulation. A subject matter, intended for something else, was already in my mind and had been for quite some time. Once the new ideas met this subject matter head on, Rachel and the Cinema Doorman came as a result. You will see just how deep an impression was left on me by the words you said on those evenings.

In the same letter, Bergman accused himself of having 'spoken with anxiety and doubt, rather than assurance and strength'. 

Sources

  • The Ingmar Bergman Archives.
  • Birgitta Steene, Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide, (Amsterdam University Press, 2005).

Collaborators

  • Ulf Johanson, Eugen Lobelius
  • Barbro Kollberg, Rachel
  • Curt Masreliez, Kaj Hesster
  • Gaby Stenberg, Mia
  • Jullan Kindahl, Petra
  • Ingmar Bergman, Author
  • Martin Ahlbom, Designer