Henrik Vogler, an ageing theatre director, is lost in his memories of the theatre and of staging Strindberg’s ‘A Dream Play’ that he’s now directing for the fifth time. His musings are interrupted by Anna Egerman, a keen young actress, who comes in allegedly to look for a bracelet she forgot. She takes the opportunity to have a conversation with Henrik Vogler, who used to be in love with her mother, Rakel, who has died since. Vogler could very well be Anna’s father: she’s 23 years and 3 months old, exactly the same age as his own daughter. She’s full of resentment towards her mother who, long ago, played Indra’s daughter in Vogler’s staging, just like Anna’s doing now. 

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born in Uppsala on July 14th, 1918 and died on the island of Fårö on July 30th, 2007. A Swedish theatre director, scriptwriter and film director, he was one of the greatest filmmakers ever. In 1997 he was the first to receive a career award at the Cannes Festival, the ‘Palme des Palmes’. 

Bergman originally made ‘After the Rehearsal’ (Efter repetitionen) for TV in 1984, with Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin and a young Lena Olin. She was the daughter of actor Stig Olin who was cast by Bergman in several of his early films. The story was initially written as a correspondence between an actress and her director, but later Bergman reworked the script as a dialogue.

In 2013 Frank Vercruyssen staged at Théâtre Garonne in Toulouse a triptych of plays entitled 3 pièces. With Alma Palacios, Ruth Vega Fernandez, and Georgia Scalliet he presented, respectively, Arthur Schnitzler’s Mademoiselle Else and two plays by Ingmar Bergman, Scènes de la vie conjugale (Scenes from a Marriage) and Après la répétition (After the Rehearsal). The three performances have since toured extensively. In January 2017 a Dutch version of Après la répétition will follow.

Frank will perform Na de repetitie with a young Dutch actress, Tessa Friedrich, a June 2016 graduate of Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht.