Tonight, the drama comedy "Closer" premieres at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern. In the play, she plays Alice – a former stripper who gets drawn into a messy quadrangle drama about love, sex, lies, and loneliness.
I don't get who she is, says Alba August in the dressing room behind the stage where she will soon meet the genre audience.
She lies in every scene, takes on different masks, and plays a game all the time. But now I've kind of landed in the fact that she's actually just telling the truth. She's 100 percent honest and pure. She just wants to be loved and experience real love.
The play was written by Patrick Marber for the British national stage in 1997. It has also been made into a Hollywood film, where Alice is played by Natalie Portman.
When the story is now being staged in Stockholm, it has received an addition – music by Alba August.
"Loves Swedish"
She was eager to blend art forms, she explains, to combine her artistry with theater. And after a meeting with director Sunil Munshi, it became clear that she would both play one of the roles and write music for her character.
The EP "Alice" with three tracks is being released simultaneously with the premiere.
It's an EP about love. It's like the same theme with a starting point from Alice, where one of the songs is the main track in the performance.
The Alice songs also became an entry point to singing in Swedish, which she hadn't done before.
I really love Swedish. It has felt closer to my heart in some way now that I've sung these songs. Maybe a little less like I'm going into my artist character. It becomes more me, which makes it more vulnerable, she says.
"Mom worked too"
A lot is happening in life right now. Alba August is expecting a child with her love, star producer Pontus Winnberg.
I felt like crap in the beginning and wanted to like end my life, but now I'm doing well. You're just tired and stressed, but it's not really different from before. But it's fun! It's somehow nice to let go of control and just go with it.
Playing theater while pregnant is no problem.
The character is not pregnant, and I forget about it as soon as we start playing.
How do you think life will be affected?
It's impossible to say how this will change. Mom worked too, had like three kids and a crazy career when we were small. It's very inspiring, and I haven't seen many examples where it hasn't worked.
Born 1993 in Copenhagen. Lives in Stockholm.
Made her acting debut in her father Bille August's film "A Song for Martin" from 2001.
Has since participated in productions such as "The Serious Game" (directed by mother Pernilla August), "Young Astrid", "The Rain", "Quick", "Orca", "All Except Us", "Incidents by the Water", and "Stockholm Bloodbath".
Made her music debut in 2020. The first album "I Still Hide" came the following year. This summer, she played, among other things, at Way Out West.
Currently starring in "Closer" at Stockholm City Theater, where she plays against Helena af Sandeberg, Pablo Leiva Wenger, and Johan Rheborg. Is one of the participants in this fall's round of "So Much Better", which was recorded this summer.
