Anna Takanen

Career

Takanen acted with the Stockholm company between 1995 and 2005. She was mentored by Suzanne Osten. In 2018, she played Barbro Alving in a play about Alving, Bang.

Takanen became director of The House of Culture (Stockholm) in 2015, and remained in the post until 2019. Fosterlandet, by , at Gothenburg City Theatre, 2015 German Autumn, by Stig Dagerman, at Uppsala City Theatre, 2023 , by Lars Norén, at Malmö City Theatre, 2026

She has aimed for gender equality and diversity in her work in the theatre, with a focus on women directors and playwrights, and leading roles for women actors. As director, she has put on premières of 150 plays, and two-thirds of those have been by new writers. When she resigned as director of Stockholm in 2019, her work was described as "konstnärligt modig, kritisk och fullkomligt oförutsägbar" ("artistically brave, critical and completely unpredictable"). Svenska Dagbladet wrote that "mister svensk teater en engagerad och klok chef men den återfår en erfaren och stark skådespelare" ("Swedish theatre loses a committed and wise director, but it regains an experienced and strong actor").

Writing

Takanen has written about her father's experience as an evacuee in her book Sörjen som blev (2019, Albert Bonniers Förlag). She adapted the memoir for the stage and performed it with the National Swedish Touring Theatre in 2021, directed by Mikaela Hasán. The book was translated into Finnish as Sina olet suruni (2020). In 2021, she was awarded the Order of the Lion of Finland for encouraging links between Sweden and Finland.

Personal life

Takanen is married to a writer, , and lives in Södermalm, Stockholm.