Nobel Prize Scandal: Power, Sex & Art in Sweden
Uniting 200 organisations and 100 million readers in 50 countries, Vienna Festival’s RESISTANCE NOW! campaign concludes its Fall 2025 Tour in Sweden: with the internationally acclaimed oratorio The Pelicot Trial, the intimate and spectacular An Other Nobel Prize Dinner, and the start of rehearsals for the dark comedy Rage.
Last week, Milo Rau and the RESISTANCE NOW! campaign were in war-torn Kiev for the Ukrainian theater awards. Rau’s report A visit to Kyiv is published these days in 10 European countries, including France (Le Monde), Sweden (Aftonbladet), and England (The Stage). Tomorrow, the RESISTANCE NOW campaign lands in Stockholm.
During An Other Nobel Prize Dinner – in parallel with the official Nobel Banquet – the “ugly Nobel Prize scandal” that shocked the world in 2018 turns into a dignified evening. The women whose testimonies revealed sexual abuse within the Swedish cultural elite will read their words publicly for the first time: words that led to the suspension of the Nobel Prize.
A hidden narrative of Sweden’s cultural establishment emerges: a world shaped by power, desire, money – and the women who refused silence. An invitation by Milo Rau, Servane Dècle, Anna Kölén, and Freja Hallberg, with music by Jamie Man. December 10, Konträr Stockholm, last tickets here.
Just one day before, The Pelicot Trial finally comes to Sweden. On the stage of the National Theater, the story of French feminist icon Gisèle Pelicot’s rape trial comes to life – “a landmark in the art of theater” (Le Monde), “a political act of memory” (El País). An evening by Milo Rau and Servane Dècle, premiere on December 9, last tickets here.
And finally: Rage. A well-known family of artists and intellectuals; a beautiful summer house; radical activists out to clean up the country: Milo Rau’s Rage examines the downfall of Sweden’s cultural elite in the form of a dark comedy.
A sharp, outspoken, and violent confrontation that swings in every direction -funny, honest, brutal. Written and directed by Milo Rau, performed by the stars of the Swedish film and theater world. Premiere January 31, tickets here.
The RESISTANCE NOW! tour continues in Belgrade, where the ban on The Pelicot Trial has led to the collapse of the National Serbian Theatre Festival Bitef – and the creation of an entire guerrilla festival! Join RESISTANCE NOW and be part of Europe’s largest campaign for freedom of art!
50 COUNTRIES 100 MILLION READERS