THESE MORTALS
Sweden   /   International artistic residency

Norra
Backen.

A house built for love.
A place for imagination.

An extraordinary house in the Swedish countryside — where memory, art and the imagination meet.

Enter the house
Aerial view of Norra Backen's white manor house, red outbuilding and woodland
Norra Backen · Sweden

Every house
holds a story.

Norra Backen was built by Erland Rosell as a gift to his wife, Signe. Set within a Swedish landscape with a long history of farming and woodland, the house has witnessed generations of work, love and change.

In 2019, artist Rina Beldo took on the house and the objects and memories preserved within it. Her ambition was to give it a new life as a place for artistic work — somewhere performers, writers, makers and visitors could meet, collaborate and respond to the landscape.

01 / Rooms and memories

A house full of stories.

Here the past is never far away. Old letters found in the attic inspired The Love Library, an exploration of memory, love and freedom. The rooms, objects and gardens are part of the creative conversation.

The eclectic sitting room with antique furniture, blue armchairs and painted doors
Living rooms for gathering
Room filled with paintings, a painted blue door and a traditional Swedish tiled stove
Art in every room
Norra Backen's sheltered verandah looking towards the garden
A threshold to the landscape
Long wooden dining table and chairs in the historic house
A table for conversation
Portrait of artist Rina Beldo outside a red building at Norra Backen

02 / The artistic imagination

Rina
Beldo.

Artist and custodian of Norra Backen, Rina has helped the house become a meeting point between its history and an evolving creative life. Art has occupied the rooms and gardens, sculptures have appeared in the landscape, and opera has been performed among the trees.

It is that generosity of place and spirit which has made Norra Backen so important to our work.

“He lifts the roof of Norra Backen and also people with creativity and love.”
Rina Beldo · On working with Paul Brennen

Of Joe Windley, Rina writes: “He is curious and pushes you to find the cornerstones of body and voice.”

03 / Two summers in the forest

Into the
forest.

In 2025 and 2026, international ensembles gathered here with Paul Brennen and Joe Windley to investigate A Midsummer Night’s Dream through voice, movement, imagination and play. In 2026, Giaele Mattioli also helped lead the movement research.

The house and the woodland became more than somewhere to rehearse. They helped determine what the work could become.

Shakespeare's text hung between trees as part of forest research
Words discovered among the trees
Actors together in a sunlit forest rehearsal
The actor and the partner
Performers improvising physical relationships in the woods
Movement, voice, play
“We began to understand what the characters needed from one another — beyond the literal meaning of the words.”

As actors spoke Shakespeare in their own languages, new ways of communicating emerged through rhythm, breath, sound and desire. The forest became an active part of the work. Out of these investigations, WOOD began to take shape: a multilingual, actor-led reimagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

2019

Rina Beldo begins a new chapter for Norra Backen as a place for art and creative collaboration.

2025

Our first Midsummer research residency explores Shakespeare, clay, language and ensemble in the woods.

2026

A second international laboratory and public sharing deepen the research that leads towards WOOD.

04 / A continuing story

Not simply a place to rehearse.
An artistic home.

We are grateful to Rina for the imagination, generosity and care with which she welcomes artists into this remarkable place. Norra Backen continues to make new stories possible.

Discover Norra Backen Discover WOOD Watch the film