Notes on Contemporary Theatre in Iceland

Second fiddle

BY Magnús Þór Þorbergsson

Icelandic playwriting does not boast of a long and illustrious history. It has become customary to pinpoint the first attempts at Icelandic playwriting at the turn of the 19th century, specifically Sigurdur Petursson's plays Hrolfur and Narfi , efforts heavily influenced by Holberg. Even though several decent attempts may be found in the 19th century, it is not until the founding of The Reykjavík Theatre Company (Leikfélag Reykjavíkur) in 1897 that a proper facility and atmosphere, calling on proper playwriting is in place. The first playwrights of calibre in the history of Icelandic playwriting thus appear on the scene in the beginning of the 20th century, notably Gudmundur Kamban and Jóhann Sigurjónsson. The fact that neither of these two writers wrote in Icelandic is a telling sign of the situation. Even though some of their plays were first staged in Iceland, both Kamban and Sigurjónsson looked abroad in the hope of getting their plays produced.

The National Theatre (Þjóðleikhúsið) was inaugurated in 1950 with the express aim of strengthening Icelandic theatre and playwriting. It did not, however, manage to come to grips with this main objective until Sveinn Einarsson took over as director in 1972, replacing Guðdlaugur Rósinkranz who had held the post from the very start. Einarsson had a degree in theatre studies and had been the director of the Reykjavík Theatre Company since 1963. The company was based in the building called Iðnó where the continuous history of Icelandic drama may be said to have begun. This is the place where the contemporary writer Jökull Jakobsson as a protégé of Einarson got the chance to develop as a playwright.

One of Einarsson's first chores as director of the National Theatre was to contract a group of Icelandic playwrights to write commissioned plays for the theatre. This policy was vital for experienced and fledgling playwrights alike, and a great step forward in making playwriting a viable profession in Iceland. Thus, the seventies saw a boom in the writing and production of Icelandic plays (which was unusual in a European or even in a western context). And this was not confined to the National Theatre: The Reykjavík Theatre Company, The Common People Theatre (Alþýðuleikhúsið) and the Apprentice Playhouse (Nemendaleikhúsið) of the newly formed Icelandic Drama School (Leiklistarskóli Íslands) also put great emphasis on the production of contemporary Icelandic plays.

In the sixties and seventies, Icelandic playwrights increasingly turned to contemporary social commentary in their plays, discarding conventional emphasis on historical and/or popular themes. Political strife was a quite common theme in the seventies, but as the decade wore on and was succeeded by the eighties, the focus gradually turned to the family and personal history. Realism was the dominant form in the seventies and eighties. and this period saw the production of many well constructed plays in the spirit of social and/or psychologicalrealism. Of course there were some notable exceptions from this: One of the most popular playwrights at the time, Gudmundur Steinsson, attempted to break away from conventional realism by taking it a step further in the direction of a sort of ?superrealism".

A farewell to realism

In 1989 the Reykjavík Theatre Company transferred its venue and operation to the specially constructed City Playhouse (Borgarleikhúsid). In the first year the percentage of Icelandic plays jumped notably in the programme (the same was true in 1997 when the company celebrated its centennial).

In the autumn of 1990, the Company staged I am the Maestro (Ég er meistarinn) , the first play by the young playwright, Hrafnhildur Hagalín. This well-constructed realistic drama attracted attention and popularity, eventually receiving the Nordic Countries' Playwrights' Award. Ten years later, the National Theatre premiered Hagalín's next play, Easy now, Electra ( Hægan, Elektra ), a much more experimental piece than the first one. These two plays reflect the development of Icelandic playwriting in the last decade of the 20th century: Since 1990 a handful of young Icelandic playwrights have all seemed bent on shaking off the shackles of realism that dominated the two previous decades. Among these are Bjarni Jónsson, Elísabet Jökulsdóttir, Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Þorvaldur Þorsteinsson and Hávar Sigurjónsson who, in spite of radically different styles and themes, all have in common a total aversion, it seems, of conventional realism.

The most prolific of the above-mentioned writers has been Þorvaldur Þorsteinsson. From 1992 he has had the following plays produced and staged: Talespin (Maríusögur) , Live (Bein útsending) , The two of us, father and son (Við feðgarnir) , and And Björk of course , as well as three children's plays and several one-act plays. The development of Thorvaldur's work is in tune with the general change of emphasis in Icelandic contemporary playwriting. Talespin and The two of us, father and son are more or less conventional as concerns structure, even though the text and the style is in places almost dreamlike and to a certain extent elevated from traditional realism. With And Björk of course , premiered by the Reykjavík Theatre Company in 1992, Þorsteinsson chose a much more experimental way. The work is to a larger extent a description of Zeitgeist than a conventional plot; the characters of the play continually step out of character and events are designed to undermine any pretence of a coherent reality.

Icelandic playwrights have obviously come a long way since the inception of The Reykjavík Theatre Company more than one hundred years ago. Even so, it has to be said, that in spite of the growing tendency of the contrary, especially among the younger generation of playwrights, Icelandic plays are still rather conventional in structure and scope. Experimental theatre has never really gained a foothold in Icelandic theatre. With the opening of the Reykjavík City Theatre, in 1989, the situation changed for the better for playwrights, with increased opportunities and an ambitious programmes designed to encourage Icelandic writers. Unfortunately, financial difficulties in recent year have forced The Reykjavík Theatre Company to cut down in all areas of operation.

The opening of the Hafnarfjordur Theatre Company (Leikfélag Hafnarfjardar) in the mid-nineties again brought an invigorating atmosphere to Icelandic theatre. The company has focused on new Icelandic plays with great success even though its budget only allows for one or two premieres per year. Unfortunately, in the past several years The National Theatre has not lived up to its designed and expected role as the champion of Icelandic playwrights. In spite of successful plays like Easy Now, Electra , by Hrafnhildur Hagalín and Coffee ( Kaffi ) by Bjarni Jónsson, the conscious cultivation of Icelandic playwriting has not been entirely beneficial, in spite of promising signs lately.

The constant and ever mounting pressure on theatres and playhouses to survive on a strict budget based on subsidiaries from the state and/or local government that hardly suffice for daily operation costs, as is the case with the Reykjavík Theatre Company, has not only resulted in fewer premieres of Icelandic plays, but has also led to a more commercial and conventional programmes based on box office "hits". As a result, innovative and experimental playwriting is still playing second fiddle in Icelandic theatre.

Magnús Þór Þorbergsson is a dramatic critic at The Icelandic Academy of the Arts

Translated from Icelandic by Geir Svansson