Bengt Ahlfors

Bengt Gunnar Richard Ahlfors (born December 28, 1937 in Helsinki ) is a Finnish-Swedish author , director , playwright and composer . He belongs to the Swedish- speaking minority in Finland and writes in the Swedish language. In 2006 Ahlfors was awarded the Finland Prize for Art and Culture and in 2016 the Tollanderska prize.

life and work

Ahlfors began his career as a theater critic , but at the same time tried his hand at all literary genres as an author. His work includes novels , short stories , children's books , scripts and poems . He also published songs and CDs. However, Ahlfors is mainly active as a playwright and has written over 30 plays so far , most of which have premiered at Lilla Teatern in Helsinki. These include, for example, his successful comedies Rysk rulett ( Russian roulette ) or Den sista cigarren ( The last cigar ), which had over 150 performances in one season. Many of his plays were staged by Ahlfors himself. In 1975 he became artistic director of the Svenska Teatern in Helsinki, where he had worked as a director since 1966.

Ahlfors most successful piece so far Finns det tigrar i Kongo? ( Are there tigers in the Congo? ), Which he wrote together with Johan Bargum , dates from 1986 and deals with the AIDS problem. The piece has been performed worldwide and has so far been translated into 19 languages. In German translation is next to Are there tigers in the Congo? and the last cigar before the piece Hissvägraren ( Der Liftverweigerer ).

Bengt Ahlfors lives with his family in Helsinki.

German language translations

Previously published in German:

• The lift refuser . Translated from Swedish by Regine Elsässer, Theaterverlag Hofmann-Paul, Berlin.
• The last cigar . Translated from Swedish by Regine Elsässer, Theaterverlag Hofmann-Paul, Berlin.
• Ash and aquavit . Translated from the Swedish by Renate Beer and Marianne Weno, Kiepenheuer Bühnenvertriebs GmbH. (World premiere: March 3, 1999 Helsinki, Lilla Teatern; German premiere (EA): March 27, 2004 Neues Theater Halle)
• Gift for an unknown woman . From the Swedish by Renate Beer, Kiepenheuer Bühnenvertriebs GmbH. (WP: Pikku-Lillan, Helsinki, September 1989)
• Are there tigers in the Congo? (in cooperation with Johan Bargum). Translated from the Swedish by Renate Beer, Kiepenheuer Bühnenvertriebs GmbH, 2001. (Premiere: Lilla Teatern, Helsinki, 1986; German EA: Theater im Bauturm, Cologne, 1987)
• The soup gets cold, the memory fades (together with Frej Lindqvist). Translated from the Swedish by Marianne Weno and Renate Beer, Kiepenheuer Bühnenvertriebs GmbH. (WP: Lilla Teatern, Helsinki, 1987)
• Around the world in 80 days . From the Swedish by Renate Beer, Kiepenheuer Bühnenvertriebs GmbH. (Premiere: Lilla Teatern, Helsinki, 1969; German EA: 1972 Lübeck, Bühnen der Hansestadt)

Web links

• Bengt Ahlfors in the Internet Movie Database (English)