En fröjdefull jul
Christmas is a time when disparate groups of people come together to spend awkward moments in each other’s company. For a lot of people, distant friends and relatives who are mercifully absent during the rest of the year pop back into your life with all the subtlety, grace and sheer fun of a brick being tossed through your car windscreen.
Alan Ayckbourn’s play En Fröjdefull Jul explores just how chaotic and traumatic a holiday season reunion can get, complete with drunken cooking, kids with guns and the kind of inter-familial tension not seen since Cleopatra had all her siblings massacred. If that sounds like a welcome distraction for you from the stresses of Christmas shopping, it’s playing at Stadsteatern all through the Christmas season.
En fröjdefull jul, Stora scenen Stadsteatern, until Dec 31
What’s the fastest way to go from being a bedroom dreamer to a global popstar? Anglo-Russian Alexandra Denton, better known as Shura, had a fair crack at finding it when she popped a track calledTouch onto Soundcloud – and watched it promptly rack up 100,000 plays in a week.
The video (which Denton also directed) has hit 20 million YouTube views, and it’s easy to understand why – Shura specialises in lush, soft-focus pop more or less engineered into extremely danceable melancholic episodes. It’s a formula that’s held its appeal across her work to date, and you can investigate for yourself when she visits Stockholm on December 18th.
Shura, Debaser Medis, Dec 18
FRIDAY DECEMBER 18
Art
Arkitektur- och Designcentrum
Pepparkakhus 2015
The 25th anniversary of ArkDes’ annual pepparkaka house exhibition
Opens Dec 2
Artipelag
The Monochrome Symphony
Mash up of art, music, fashion and design and examination of the impact pf radical monochrome aesthetics
On display until March 2016
Andréhn-Schiptjenko Gallery
Xavier Veilhan
On display until Dec 19
Live
Samling + Dolce
Preppy Swedish indie
Debaser Strand, 1900
Shura
English dance-pop star comes to Stockholm. With Popaganda DJs.
Debaser Medis, 1900.
Fire! Orchestra
Jazz, impro, art music, rock and pop – the best of all worlds.
Fasching, 1800
Jack Moy & Glöden
Dirty old man rock
Debaser Medis, 1900
Öykü
Turkish pop star
Södra Teatern, 1900
Clubbing
Winter Salsa Party
Salsa shows, salsa classes and two dance floors.
Kägelbanan, Södra Teatern, 19-02
Mosebacke Torg
Daniel Bech
The Keeper (Daniel Bech) an expert on all things music, who used to blog under “The Keep”. Tune in for scratchy music from the 70s and 80s.
Calexico’s, Debaser Strand, 21-03
Hornstulls Strand
Classical
Konserthusets stora julkonsert
Konserthuset’s annual Christmas extravaganza, featuring an enormous range or performances and musicians.
Dec 17, 18, 19, Stora Salen @ 1930 & 1500 (18), 1800 (18)
Christmas concert
The Radio Choir and Sveriges Radio Symphony Orchestra combine for a joint Christmas performance.
Dec 16, 17, 18, 19 @ 1800 & 1930 (18), 1500 (19)
Theatre
Dramaten
Den e vi
A show that tells the often-hidden stories of young people, with the help of hip-hop artists
Opens Dec 4, Lilla Scenen
Maximteatern
A Christmas Carol
Performance of the classic Dickins tale. In English
Opens Dec 4
Comedy
Maffia Comedy Club with Janne Westerlund
Restaurang Södra Sällskapet @ 2000
Åsögatan 111
Yvonne Skattberg, Eric Löwenthal, Fredrik Andersson
Norra Brunn Comedy @ 2100
Surbrunnsgatan 33
SATURDAY DECEMBER 19
Art
Arkitektur- och Designcentrum
Pepparkakhus 2015
The 25th anniversary of ArkDes’ annual pepparkaka house exhibition
Opens Dec 2
Artipelag
The Monochrome Symphony
Mash up of art, music, fashion and design and examination of the impact pf radical monochrome aesthetics
On display until March 2016
Live
Sator
Swedish pop-punky rockers perform their 1992 album Headquake.
Debaser Medis, 1900
Julia Adams / Hanna Järver/ Systraskap
A triple bill of up-and-coming Swedish electro-poppers
Debaser Strand, 1900
Räfvens Christmas party
Balkan Beats and gypsy punk dance music
Fasching, 1900
Niyaz
Electronic grooves from the Middle East
Södra Teatern, 1900
Kardes Türküler
Turkish folk star
Kägelbanan, Södra Teatern, 2000
Clubbing
Vaudevillains Burlesque Variety
Burlesque party with Fräulein Franke and STHLM Noir. Live show at midnight.
Mosebacke Etablissement, Södra Teatern, 21-02
Mosebacke Torg
Classical
Konserthusets stora julkonsert
Konserthuset’s annual Christmas extravaganza, featuring an enormous range or performances and musicians.
Dec 17, 18, 19, Stora Salen @ 1930 & 1500 (18), 1800 (18)
Christmas concert
The Radio Choir and Sveriges Radio Symphony Orchestra combine for a joint Christmas performance.
Dec 16, 17, 18, 19 @ 1800 & 1930 (18), 1500 (19)
Theatre
Boulevardteatern
Finnar är Lejon
Comedy show with Janne Westerlund
Dec 5
MOD Människor och dans
A performance that aims to help people discover the courage to dance
Dec 5
Comedy
Maffia Comedy Club with Janne Westerlund
Restaurang Södra Sällskapet @ 2000
Åsögatan 111
Sven Brundin, Tobias Persson
Norra Brunn Comedy @ 2100
Surbrunnsgatan 33
SUNDAY DECEMBER 20
Art
Arkitektur- och Designcentrum
Pepparkakhus 2015
The 25th anniversary of ArkDes’ annual pepparkaka house exhibition
Opens Dec 2
Artipelag
The Monochrome Symphony
Mash up of art, music, fashion and design and examination of the impact pf radical monochrome aesthetics
On display until March 2016
Live
The Real Group
The vocal quintet in a Christmas
Konserthuset
Mostar Sevdah Reunion
A new urban take on the Bosnian Sevdalinka folk music
Södra Teatern, 1900
Wust El Balad
Egyptian soft rock
Kägelbanan, Södra Teatern, 2000
Classical
Berwaldhallen
Jubileumsjul med The Real Group
The Real Group celebrates its 30-year anniversary with a bumper Christmas show.
Dec 20, Stora Salen @ 1500 & 1900
Theatre
Stadsteatern
En fröjdefull jul
A comedy by Alan Ayckbourn concerning a chaotic Christmas.
Playing until Dec 30, Stora Scenen.
Farmor och vår herre
A play about a woman about to celebrate her 85th birthday, and Sweden’s journey from poverty to wealth.
Playing until Feb 2016, Klarascenen
Comedy
Big Ben Stand Up
The Big Ben @ 2000
Folkungagatan 97