In 1990 I worked as a biomedical engineer at the university hospital in Lund. I was in some way tied to the department for infant intensive care and they invited me to listen to their conference, " Intensive Health Care - Facing Year 2000" (you could say they were a bit more foresighted than all those computer programmers...). During the conference they discussed everything from the colour of the curtains to philosophic things like " The time you are being born, you will never get so close to death apart from the day you actually die". Since the conference were held in the house of the SKANSKA THEATRE it ended with a superb performance by two of their actors. Immediately after the show I was thinking for my self "Yes, this is what I want to do. I want to play theatre!" (I was thirty years old then...).
When I came home I discovered that I had forgotten my briefcase at the conference. So I wrote a letter to the theatre if they could send back my briefcase and, if they ever needed a lazy and unwilling of rehearsal actor, they were permitted to contact me. Unlikely they did. An old man had become ill and they wanted a new actor fast for a small walker-on part in the play. WOW! I phoned them up, prepared to tell them all about my creativity, skills and charisma. But the only thing he asked was "What do you look like?". "Eh... itīs a bit hard to explain on the phone (what is this, a commercial job or something?). I've better come down to you personally so you can look for yourself".
I went down during their rehearsal so that everybody could take a look at me and see if I would fit in. The play was called "Plenty of Whiskey" and the story was about how life was changed for all the people on an island during the war when a ship with lots whiskey in it's cargo stranded just outside the island. My part in the play was to play turned out to be the village fool. Apparently I had the perfect look for the role, I didnīt even need makeup. When I told them that I worked as an engineer I also got the responsibility to build up an illicit liquor shop on the scene under each performance.
The play went on for six weeks that summer in an open-air theatre and it was really a marvellous time. The atmosphere between us amateurs and the professionals were really good and they tried to help us as much as they could.