Words by

The Reykjavík Grapevine

@rvkgrapevine

Q: Why in English?
Sólveig: We had started to work with the text from an English play, and had begun to translate it, then we decided to work with the text by other authors such as Beckett and Pinter, but the rhythm in their work was so powerful that we felt compelled to use it in its original form. We felt it could possibly work out because Iceland is developing into a multicultural country and it is so rare that there is anything available for those that don’t understand Icelandic in the theatres.
Q: Why war as a theme?
Sólveig: We felt that we could use the theatre as a tool to get people to think, to form an opinion about war, because we as a nation are now taking part in a war for the first time. We are all responsible in one way or another. In this particular play we want to move out of time and the consequences of the war we are dealing with could be the aftermath of any war, past, present or future. We in Garpur have been developing this concept through our shows, the first show was about the preparation for war. We like to shift the gender roles in performances, by having women act the roles of men, to show that the brutality within a war situation is something everyone is capable of being guilty of. It is a part of humanity and needs to be addressed; we tried to do that with a level of abstraction and a good dose of black humor.
Q: Why an English director?
Sólveig: I studied in London and part of the education was to get different directors to teach us, I got to know Graeme Maley through that. He is an artistic director for LLT – Liverpool’s New Writing Theatre, who’s primary function is to assist new writers to get their work seen, heard and to produce their plays. We think it is important to get people from other countries to Iceland to work with Icelandic theatres, in order to develop new ideas and concepts.
Shown at Klink og Bank 11th & 13th of March at 20:00, it will be shown the following weekend. You can order tickets by calling 661 1492