The rebellious queen was a superstar of her time
“The idea for The Queen’s Play was born from the disadvantage that royal plays have been made in the dark, while the ones about queens have not,” says director Sini Pesonen.
In Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–1689), Pesonen became particularly fascinated by questions related to power and gender – how Christina broke the norms of her time and built her own path as queen.
“Kristiina was a very modern but contradictory character in her time. He was raised like a king and used his power confidently, but at the same time he was also expected to give birth to heirs,” he describes.
Pesonen asked his long-term collaborator Jussi Moila, with whom he has worked since 2006, to write the screenplay. According to Moila, Kristiina was exceptional in the way she actively created herself and searched for her identity.
“Women of that era were supposed to be submissive, but she experimented with different relationships and religions, ruled as queen and eventually abdicated the crown. She was an atypical woman in a very conservative time.”
Great power politics and education
Christina’s reign took place at a time when Sweden had risen to the ranks of the great powers of Europe. His father, Gustav II Adolf, had expanded the empire, but fell in battle, leaving the crown to his daughter, who was only a small child at the time. In practice, power was held by Kristiina’s father’s trusted advisor, Chancellor of the Reich Axel Oxenstierna.
The queen’s play focuses on Christina’s reign, which lasted about ten years, and began when she turned 18. “He had to fight for power back to himself, because these old men were fond of their own position in the grip of power,” Moila describes.
Kristiina continued the great power project started by her father, but in her own way. He sought to make Sweden a cultural superpower by importing intellectuals, artists and scientists.
“Kristiina’s educational project is also mixed with self-centeredness. He wanted to be glamorous for himself, and that was probably a big motive in all the art collection,” Moila says.
However, Kristiina did not only focus on developing culture, but also made significant political decisions. For example, she ended the Thirty Years’ War and gained a reputation as the Queen of Peace, although her temperament was anything but peaceful.
The role of Kristiina is played by Elsi Sloan, who Pesonen thinks is perfect for the role. “He is a modern-day activist, artist and actor who also knows how to take and create space.”
The Exerciser of Power Contrary to Expectations
The Queen Play is a historical drama about power and love, but it also has a lightness and playfulness. Comical overtones are brought by, among other things, the fact that the young radical queen opposes the old administrators who are trying to get Christina to bend to the role of the traditional queen.
However, Kristiina did not behave as expected, but aroused disapproval and caused scandals.
“He was a gossip celebrity of his time, whose relationships were the subject of pamphlets, writings and forged letters,” Pesonen says.
Christina abhorred the idea of getting married and starting a family, even though she was expected to do so as queen. She had romantic relationships with men and women, and her close relationship with the lady-in-waiting was also noted at court.
According to Moila, one of the interesting questions is how the love relationship between two women can be described in a culture and time when homosexuality did not even exist as a concept. In addition, gender was defined in the 17th century in a strictly binary way.
“The general perception at the time was that there were only two genders, a woman and a man, and Kristiina talked about herself in one context as having a woman’s body but a man’s soul,” Pesonen says.
What fascinates me about Kristiina is that she is so difficult to define. “I believe that after seeing the play, many people want to know more about him. We have lost our hearts to Kristiina,” Pesonen says.
Text Ida Henritius