Ragni Grönblom suffocates in Sufflören: “It’s important to breathe with the actor, be focused on the present but still always a little bit ahead”
To have a conversation with the soufflé in Andreas T Olsson’s comedy The Sufflören is a fun idea. When the soufflé also includes Ragni Grönblom, a veteran in the performing arts with experience as an actor and drama teacher, it becomes extra interesting.
In addition, this pillar of support behind the scenes has perhaps an even more important role than usual in The Sufflören since the text is a monologue. Joachim Wigelius stands alone on stage for about 1.5 hours. Tough for the actor! But also the soufflé.
The pen flies forward on the following line of text
Ragni says that she has developed a special technique to simultaneously follow what the actor is saying, the tone of voice of what they say, the body language, but also already know what is going to happen in the next moment.
“Playwright Andreas T Olsson says it ingeniously; The soufflé or soufflé has to breathe with the actor, have that enormous concentration and the ability to constantly read the actors if they get confused or the role is at a loss.”
“It’s strange how you as a soufflé can be in the moment but a little bit ahead. Even my hands are a little ahead; I always have a pen in my hand and it is constantly moving on the following lines of text.”
“Often I don’t whisper, I almost scream…”
Ragni says that when an actor really gets out of hand, everything can come to a standstill. And it can happen to anyone, even the absolute best and most experienced.
“Then I don’t whisper because the actor has to hear right away and get an impulse so that the state when they have been blocked passes and the scene goes on. Then it’s often better to almost scream.”
“In other situations, you can notice that the actor is losing the thread and then you can quietly mime or whisper, as if serving the line in advance… Of course, you can say that the most successful is an evening when you are not needed at all.”
With modern technology, of course, the small earbuds have also made their entrance on stage.
“In some situations, it may be useful to use an earbud when, for one reason or another, abundant or constant soufflé is needed during a performance.”
The goal is always the best possible production
In addition to concentration and focus, other good qualities for a soufflé or soufflé are responsiveness and sensitivity. A plus is if, like Ragni herself, you are a trained actress with pedagogical experience, know your literature and are generally educated.
“I may sometimes take my job a little too seriously, but it’s the only way for me to work.”
“I’m passionate and love language and literature! As a young literature student, I was influenced by great theatre personalities such as Ralf Långbacka, Benno Besson, Kaisa Korhonen, Bisse Ulfsson, Elina Salo, Asko Sarkola and Gusse Wiklund.”
“That’s why I can’t help but get involved if I discover that an actor doesn’t have the idea or maybe had time to understand a deeper meaning in the text. Like them, I want the production to be as good as possible!”
Yellow post-it notes with Ragni tips
And this is where the yellow post-it notes that Ragni is known for make their entrance. She jokingly calls the notes jaundice, because she spreads them around her like a benign epidemic.
When we walk around the stage after the chat in the kitchen, we find a pile of unused notes on a side shelf in one aisle, “ouch, I’ve left some there” exclaims the soufflé and takes the pile with him on the fly. “I’m going to use these!”
“I started with the notes when I was responsible for the acting work at the Swedish Department of Performing Arts and Kaisa Korhonen directed Dostoevsky’s The Idiot.”
“Take it or leave it”
Ragni and Kaisa Korhonen worked together excellently, but the director could get annoyed if there were longer interruptions when Ragni was talking to a younger actor.
“I needed to come up with a way to communicate with the actors that didn’t disturb. A way that was also somewhat between us, because you don’t have to say everything in front of everyone either.”
The idea of the yellow notes is ingenious – they can be read quickly or pondered thoughtfully, they can be put in your pocket immediately or taken out later. Ragni can secretly glue them on, for example, the actors’ mirrors inside their dressing rooms, and the actors can tear them off and, if they think they are particularly useful, attach them to the pages of the script as reminders:
“I quietly record every misstatement on the little note and then leave it unnoticed on the actor’s mirror so they can ponder the message when they have time. Then the actor gets to ‘take it or leave it’.”
Important with souffle from the first rope
You might think that the soufflé doesn’t start until the play is finished and the audience sits down. But that’s not the case. Ragni says that she prefers to sit down and start with the notes right at the learning stage of the text.
“It’s extremely important that the soufflé or soufflé is there from the first moment so that the actor doesn’t learn anything wrong, because it usually gets stuck in the back muscle and is difficult to get rid of later.”
“I’ve heard that many people who know my notes appreciate them. Others who do not understand their importance may at first throw them away, but eventually may appreciate them and save them. It’s different and that’s okay.”
By the way, Ragni Grönblom doesn’t sit in the middle of the audience, as some sufflers and soufflés do these days. Nor does she sit on the far right of the front row, which is also customary. Instead, she sits on stage right next to the curtain, in the so-called Nolla behind the scenes – that’s where she feels at home and has the best control to contribute to the best possible play.
Participated in many productions at Lillan
Ragni Grönblom has been a soufflé at Lillan for two reruns.
As a young woman, she worked on productions such as Svejk in the Second World War (directed by Ralf Långbacka), A Conversation in the House by von Stein (directed by Ernst Günther), Hamlet (directed by Benno Besson), The Snowball War (directed by Kaisa Korhonen), Butterfly Wings (directed by Christian Lund).
In recent years, she has returned to Lillan som sufflös in The Greedy (directed by Neil Hardwick), Tartuffe (directed by Kari Heiskanen), The Summer Book (directed by Jakob Höglund), A Little Calm in the House (directed by Jaakko Saariluoma), The Marriage Thing (directed by Cris af Enehielm) and The Sufflor (directed by Marina Meinander).
NINA WINQUIST