{{Short description|Swedish theatre critic, poet and actress}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Elsa Collin | image = Collin, Elsa ur AFs Arkiv.jpg | alt = | caption = Elsa Collin in a photo from 1907 during her first year as a student in Lund. | birth_name = Elsa Sigrid Collin | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1887|10|3}} | birth_place = Helsingborg, Sweden | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1941|6|29|1887|10|3}} | death_place = Stockholm, Sweden | other_names = | occupation = | known_for = }}
'''Elsa Sigrid Collin''' (3 October 1887 – 29 June 1941) was a Swedish theatre critic, poet and actress.<ref name="utskickvi">{{cite web |first=Fredrik |last=Tersmeden |url=http://utskick.lu.se/b.aspx?vi=12&vid=233&pli=bcf80bbe-3ad0-4ca0-a1f0-cea5c4251470&r=23229&ucrc=13E82EB2 |title=Elsa Collin – den första kvinnan på spexscenen (och mycket mer) |publisher=Lund University |date=June 2014 |accessdate=13 July 2014 |language=Swedish |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204225206/http://utskick.lu.se/b.aspx?vi=12&vid=233&pli=bcf80bbe-3ad0-4ca0-a1f0-cea5c4251470&r=23229&ucrc=13E82EB2 |archive-date=4 February 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Early life== Collin was the daughter of Knut Johan August Collin, a doctor in Helsingborg, and Sigrid Elvira Eskilsson. Elsa's mother died when she was just two years old; her father later remarried.<ref name="utskickvi"/>
==Career== After finishing school in 1906, Collin completed her studentexamen in Gothenburg, and entered Lund University in 1907.<ref name="utskickvi" /> Collin became the first woman at any Swedish university to be part of a student spex show<ref name="utskickvi"/> playing the part of Susanna, the chambermaid, in a spex called ''Gerda''; the spex also went on a tour to Malmö and Helsingborg.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tomtefallan.se/spexhistoria.html |title=Spexhistoria |newspaper=Tomtefällan |accessdate=15 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718102221/http://tomtefallan.se/spexhistoria.html |archivedate=18 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Sandra |last=Stendahl |url=http://www.sydsvenskan.se/lund/jubilarer-frossar-i-djingis-khan/ |title=Jubilarer frossar i Djingis Khan |newspaper=Sydsvenskane |date=26 April 2011 |accessdate=13 July 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121419/http://www.sydsvenskan.se/lund/jubilarer-frossar-i-djingis-khan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Collin was also active in the left-wing fraternity ''Den yngre gubben'' and wrote for the student paper with, among others, Vilhelm Ekelund, with whom she had a close relationship at the time.<ref name="utskickvi"/>
After completing her bachelor's degree in 1909, Collin moved to Stockholm and entered Stockholm University, but mostly worked, initially as an actress in the theatre ensemble Lilla Teatern as well as Uppsala Teatern.<ref name="ingmarbergman1">{{cite web |first=Helene |last=Dahl |url=http://ingmarbergman.se/medarbetare/ellen-bergman |title=Ellen Bergman |publisher=Ingmarbergman.se |date=24 June 2012 |accessdate=13 July 2014 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714124451/http://ingmarbergman.se/medarbetare/ellen-bergman |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Robinson2008">{{cite book|author=Michael Robinson|title=An International Annotated Bibliography of Strindberg Studies 1870–2005: Vol. 2, the Plays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMC5o-iJq-YC&pg=PA1002|year=2008|publisher=MHRA|isbn=978-0-947623-82-1|page=1002}}</ref> Over time she came to work more for newspapers, first as a secretary at the Stockholm weekly ''Figaro'' and then as the Stockholm theatre critic for the Malmö newspaper ''Arbetet''.<ref name="utskickvi"/>
Collin published poetry in the Social Democratic women's magazine ''Morgonbris'', including two overtly political poems, "Det dagas" (Day is dawning) and "Giv ditt namn!" (Give your name!) written in association with the women's suffrage assemblies of 1912 and 1913. The title of the second refers to a petition effort; the poem became an anthem of the movement in Sweden.<ref name="utskickvi"/>
During her years in Stockholm, Collin became a close friend of writer and theatre leader Brita von Horn; the two women shared a residence in Skagen.<ref name="ingmarbergman1"/><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.kkmuseum.dk/kkenglish/kk.htm|title = Kirsten Kjær (1893–1985)|publisher = Kirsten Kjær Museum|accessdate = 14 July 2014|archive-date = 15 July 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140715040225/http://www.kkmuseum.dk/kkenglish/kk.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> Together they created the theatre group the Dramatist Studio (''Dramatikerstudion'') and wrote a play for the group based on von Horn's book ''Aschebergskan på Wittskövle''.<ref name="utskickvi"/> However, the piece did not receive its first performance until 1944, after Collin's death, when it was also Ingmar Bergman's inaugural production at the Helsingborg City Theatre.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJCGNAlqB0gC&pg=PA514 |title=Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide |first=Birgitta |last=Steene |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9789053564066 |page=415}}</ref>
==Death== Collin died in 1941. Her funeral took place in Stockholm, but she was buried in the Nya kyrkogården (New Cemetery) in her birthplace Helsingborg.<ref name="utskickvi"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Svensk litteraturtidskrift – Volume 27|publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell|year=1964|page=133}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{SKBL}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Collin, Elsa}} Category:1887 births Category:1941 deaths Category:20th-century Swedish actresses Category:Swedish stage actresses Category:Swedish theatre critics Category:Swedish women theatre critics Category:Lund University alumni Category:Stockholm University alumni Category:Actresses from Helsingborg Category:20th-century Swedish poets Category:20th-century Swedish women poets