Astrid Lindgren: Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter

Translated from Swedish by Eugenija STRAVINSKIENĖ. On a forest-covered mountain, in a castle split by lightning, lives Ronja, a girl born into the family of Mattis, the leader of a band of robbers. Her days are spent playing with the robbers and being doted on by her parents, while beyond the castle walls awaits an introduction to a magical forest full of gnomes, drudes and other extraordinary creatures. Meanwhile, Mattis watches his growing daughter, hoping that Ronja will take over leadership of the band of robbers from him. 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 own band. Borka’s son, Birk, lives with the robbers too. When Ronja sees him for the first time, she feels that this is exactly the kind of person she has always longed for and waited for: a little person like herself. Although at first the children, like their fathers, compete and stubbornly stand their ground, they gradually become friends as they share adventures and trials. Their secret friendship becomes a challenge not only for the children but also for the bands of robbers, 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 the celebrated Swedish children’s writer Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002). 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 for children’s writers and illustrators. She created such legendary, world-famous characters as Pippi Longstocking, Karlsson and Emil of Lönneberga.

“Ronja came about because, living in the city, I myself longed terribly for open fields and deep forests. 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 robbers’ family has a daughter, and the other 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 mature in the forest, but also show the adults that the only path to strength is learning to live together and unite. I believe the lessons written into Astrid Lindgren’s work are now immensely relevant and important. Our production of ‘Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter’ is a musical, witty and, at the same time, profound coming-of-age story,” says Eglė Švedkauskaitė, the production’s director and author of the dramatic adaptation.

The production 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