Sara Torsslow - Strikes

Strikes

In 1830 she married actor Ulrik Torsslow (1801–1881), who was six years her junior. Together they were called "Twin stars of the first order in the sky of Art" and were regarded as the most notable male and female stars of their generation. They had both the fame and the position that they needed to launch two major strikes - indeed, the biggest strikes in the theatre's history - known as "the first Torsslow argument" (in 1827) and "the second Torsslow argument" (in 1834): the first concerned an unpopular director and the second related to an issue of wages, when the actors were displeased with the theatre's plans to replace their percent of the income with wages. They succeeded with their first strike, but the authorities were prepared for the second and, determined to avoid a repetition, crushed the unity of the actors by raising the wages of some and dismissing the others with a pension.

The first strike in 1827 was caused by reforms planned by the director Puke. He planned to abolish the recett (benefit) performances (which gave the whole income from one play to one of the participants) and the actors' shares in the theatre and replace them with a fixed salary. This did not have the support of the actors, as fixed salaries were in most cases low, and the benefit performances and shares were necessary to their personal budgets. Puke had also made himself unpopular with a frequent use of the old disciplinarian rules against the actors, such as the right of the director to place an actor in house arrest in his or her dressing-room. The strike prevented the reform, but all the old rules were kept, as well as the disliked disciplinarian rules; for example, the arrest was abolished only for female actors. The discontent of the old system was voiced by Elisabeth Frösslind, who, when director Puke asked her if she was satisfied with the settlement, answered; "Oh yes, the only thing it lacks is flogging." The next strike was therefore near, and it took place in 1834. This time, the shares was abolished, the salaries were fixed, and the participants of the strike were fired. Some of them, such as Charlotta Eriksson, were only fired so they could be hired again at lower wages.