Swede Hollow, in St Paul, Minnesota USA, is a park and neighbourhood these days, but in 1897 it was a slum in an industrial city, where poor Swedish immigrants lived between back-breaking shifts in the gritty factories that powered the US’ economy. Ola Larsmo’s 2016 book, which takes its name from the slum, chronicled the lives of those poor Swedes, who moved to the States in search of some happiness but found only the brutal side of the American Dream. Dramaten have now transformed it into a stage show which plays this November, and includes a series of lectures and talks on the subject.

Swede Hollow, Elverket Dramaten, Opens Nov 8

Photo: Lewis W Hine