Astrid Lindgren: Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter

Translated from Swedish by Eugenija STRAVINSKIENĖ

On a forested hill, in a castle split by lightning, lives Ronja, a girl born into the family of Mattis, a robber chief. Her days pass playing with the robbers and being doted on by her parents, while beyond the castle walls awaits the chance to explore a magical forest full of gnomes, flying creatures and other extraordinary beings. Meanwhile, Mattis watches his daughter grow, hoping that Ronja will take over leadership of his robber band.

Their everyday life, filled with robberies, gatherings and songs, is pierced like another bolt of lightning by the news that Mattis’s mortal enemy, Borka, has settled on the other side of the castle with his band. Borka’s son, Birk, lives with the robbers too. When Ronja sees him for the first time, she feels that this is the kind of person she has always longed for and waited for: a little person like herself. At first, the children, like their fathers, compete and stubbornly stand their ground, but as they share adventures and trials, they gradually become friends. Their secret friendship challenges not only the children but also the robber bands, and eventually leads to the children running away from home into the forest.

“Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter” is one of the best-known works by Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002), the celebrated Swedish writer for children. Her books have been translated into more than 95 languages. Astrid Lindgren received dozens of awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the highest international award given to children’s writers and book illustrators. She created legendary characters known throughout the world, such as Pippi Longstocking, Karlsson and Emil of Lönneberga.

“Ronja came about because, living in the city, I greatly longed for open fields and the deep forest. It began when I started imagining a mountain, and on the mountain a robbers’ castle that suddenly split in two. ‘What kind of people live there?’ I wondered. Aha, one robber family has a daughter, and another has a son. Just like Romeo and Juliet. At first they quarrel and tease each other, but gradually they become friends…,” the author once said.

“Ronja is a girl who dares to choose her own path. And although she is very much like her father, she cannot accept his view of the world and stay in his castle; she has to experience for herself what friendship means, what it means to love and to lose. Having run away from home into freedom, the children not only grow up in the forest but also show adults that the only path to strength is learning to live together and unite. I think the lessons written into Astrid Lindgren’s work are incredibly relevant and important today. Our ‘Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter’ is a musical, witty and, at the same time, profound coming-of-age story,” says the production’s director and playwright of the stage adaptation, Eglė Švedkauskaitė.

The performance features a song performed by the boys’ choir of the 4th grade at the Ąžuoliukas Music School (artistic director Vytautas Miškinis, choirmaster Daiva Leipuvienė).

*** Children under 4 do not need a ticket, but no seat in the auditorium is provided for them; they sit on the accompanying adult’s lap. (Please present proof of age at the venue.) ***

Astrid Lindgren rights