Kristina Hagström Senior lecturer

I am a researcher and senior lecturer in theatre and performance studies. Additionally, I am the Swedish Research Council’s vice secretary general responsible for artistic research, and work as a freelance director, translator, and dramaturge.

I have a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from University of California, Berkeley, and have previously held positions as professor at the Artistic Faculty of Göteborg University, visiting professor at Stockholm University of the Arts, and head of unit at Riksteatern, Sweden’s national touring theatre.

My research is situated at the intersection of critical theory and creative practice, with interests in performance studies, dramaturgy and mise en scène, translation and performance, and questions of testimony and memory work. Two current projects, ”Transformations of witnessing in contemporary performance” and ”Translation, transposition, mise en scène: A critical practice”, are supported by the Swedish Research Council.

At present I am working on translations into Swedish of Anne Carson’s An Oresteia and Antigonick. In 2024, I translated and directed William Shakespeare’s Hamlet for Göteborg City Theatre. In the past year I have served as dramaturge for two productions in choreography: Haunted Desires by Björn Säfsten (Inkonst/Dansens Hus) and ENOUGH. by Mike Gamble (Atalante). I have also collaborated with the Swedish Holocaust Museum around staged readings of Peter Weiss’s The Investigation as well as the dramatic writing of Charlotte Delbo.

Recent publications:

"Unfolding Hamlet: A letter to Freddie Rokem". Countless Centers: Liber Amicorum for Freddie Rokem. Eds. Ruthie Abielovich et al. Berlin: Neofelis Verlag, 2026.

"Överlevnadens poetik" ("The poetics of survival"). Ord & Bild 4:2025

”Minnet som spelplats”. De Nio litterär kalender 2025. Ed. Magnus Halldin. Stockholm: Norstedts, 2025.