Mart Crowley's play "The Boys in the Band" premiered off-Broadway in 1968, depicting a group of gay friends gathering for a birthday party in a spacious apartment in New York. The party develops into an evening of hidden agendas, lies, and neuroses, but also of not daring to stand up for who you are.
Pioneering
The play was pioneering in a time when homosexuals often only dared to be themselves in closed rooms, but since the premiere, it has been performed many times on the world's theater stages (including in Malmö in 1970), and has also become both a film and a Netflix production.
Now, the play is being put on at Cirkus in Stockholm with Edward af Sillén in the director's chair and featuring, among others, Oscar Zia, Edvin Törnblom, Björn Elgerd, and Carlos Romero Cruz in the cast.
For Oscar Zia, who hasn't been on a theater stage since he was twelve, it will be a long-awaited return to the boards.
It's going to be incredibly fun. I often sit locked up in the studio and write music. It feels really cool to do something else between albums, he says.
The play's main theme is about daring to be who you really are. And the fact that all the actors, and most of the team around them, are queer contributes to the authenticity, Zia believes.
Recognition
As an actor, I should be able to play whatever the hell I want. At the same time, it's luxurious to get to play a character that reflects one's own innermost thoughts and what one has gone through in life. It's like a preparation you're born with, he says, and adds:
Moreover, it's always important with representation, and to see something else on stage than what you're used to.
At the same time, Zia believes in a high recognition factor for those who go and see "Oss pojkar emellan".
The important thing about the story is not that the ensemble is queer, but that it deals with very human feelings and relationships. That the audience will get a wonderful time, get to laugh, think, and be moved, he says.
Original title: "The Boys in the Band"
Swedish title: "Oss pojkar emellan"
Swedish premiere: January 24, 2025.
Director: Edward af Sillén.
In the roles: Oscar Zia, Edvin Törnblom, Carlos Romero Cruz, Björn Elgerd, Joakim Lang, Simon Rodriguez, Olle Roberg, and Johan Charles.
