Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.08.2007, Page 21

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Kristín Magnús has been running her company
Travelling Theatre for over 40 years, taking
shows all over the U.S. and the U.K. and re-
ceiving solid reviews throughout. Since 1970,
she has been the driving force behind what
has become something of a legend here in
Reykjavík, the ‘Light Nights’ theatre show.
That’s a long run for one show. It’s had its
fair share of re-development, evolving from a
one-hander to now featuring a cast of seven.
Designed as a tourist show, it features Icelandic
folklore, stories from the Sagas, histories, and
some traditional dance and music. It is one
of very few theatre pieces performed here in
English, pleasantly accessible to the foreign
market during the summer season. That said,
it’s one of the only theatre shows that actually
gets a run during the summer as all of the
major companies are on vacation. The show is
performed on Monday and Tuesday nights until
the end of August. I managed to get myself a
ticket and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
‘Iðnaðarmannahúsið’, more simply Iðnó, is
a fitting home for this charming piece. Origi-
nally housing Iceland’s first theatre company
back in 1897, the recently restored building
gives a sense of time and tradition, which is
what the show is really all about – giving the
tourists a slice of traditional Iceland. There is
a great quote in the program from the 1890s:
“On entering the house, one literally forgets
that the building is in Reykjavík. I have not
measured the dimensions of the hall but I
doubt that there is anything like it anywhere
else in the city”. Once you’ve seen this room
you can really appreciate the size of Iceland
back then, and how important it must have
been to carry these stories through the ages.
The show opens with a generic folk dance.
I later learned that it is taught to school kids all
over Iceland to this day. Then, with introduc-
tions and narration by Kristín, the cast bring
various stories and traditions to life. A note to
anyone interested in seeing the show: bring a
local. They will be able to give you a running
commentary on how important this stuff is to
Icelandic culture. It’s too easy to look at the
pretty pictures and not think about it. These
stories are old. They’ve been with Iceland for
hundreds of years and are part of every child’s
education. The story of the Night Troll, Álfkona,
the Sealwoman, the Deacon of Myrká, are
all great little stories and told here in a clear
accessible style.
Interspersed between the stories are audio-
visual presentations about Icelandic history,
volcanic activity, nature and so forth. Although
slightly incongruous, they offer a healthy res-
pite from th live storytelling.
Light Nights is no groundbreaking thea-
tre, some of the segues could be tightened
– the back story featuring Landsbankinn CEO
Björgólfur Guðmundsson is probably lost to a
foreign audience – but the performances are
genuine and I came out entirely charmed by
the experience. This is old style storytelling,
good old-fashioned theatre. It is designed for
a specific audience, but I actually believe that
the odd Icelander might benefit from seeing
this show.
For a warm, home-made night out, go visit
Light Nights, www.lightnights.com.
An Enlightening Night
Text by Nick Candy
What: Light Nights
Where: Iðnó
When: July 30, 2007
It always starts the same. That peculiar unease.
A muted recognition. The guilty glance from
across a crowded room. Love comes in at the
eye, Yeats said. Whether you’re Paris Hilton,
Ashley Cole, or a clerk at 10-11, it happens
to the best of us. Surely, it can’t be all that
different in a VIP lounge.
“You are so incredibly lucky to be here, you
know,” the bubbly blonde bartender giggles
at you from across the stage. “They don’t let
just anybody into the VIP section.” Things are
different here, she insists. Wild, even. This is
where the stars play.
The modest setting of Hetero-heroes: with
full respect for Ashley Cole, begins thus. With a
scantily clad little ditz welcoming you to a world
that is seemingly far from what you know. So
enter the VIPs, Hilmar Guðjónsson as William
Gallas, and Hilmir Jensson as Ashley Cole.
They’re having a beer. Across a table teeming
with testosterone-steaming footballers, they’re
noticing each other.
More than a simple love story, the cunning
production is tightly woven with allusions to
everyday internal conflicts, including image
and idol worship, sexual social constructs and
the ultimate fear of defeat. The real success
of the play, however, lies in its gripping use
of metaphor, provided by the ostensibly trivial
banter of the barmaid, who subtly creates an
internal story line. One that hangs like a stream
of consciousness over the rising actions of the
two main characters long after she has left the
stage.
The play turns out to be somewhat of a soccer
match, with all the players looking to score in
one way or another. Those watching, clouded
by jealousy and those cursed to play, flickering
between losing and regaining sight of the fact
that they are part of an elaborate show.
Ironically, or perhaps brilliantly, enough,
the story is as much about the silly barmaid,
played by Þórunn Arna Kristjánsdóttir, as it is
about the two VIPs. Playwright and director
Heiðar Sumarliðason has done the laudable
job of examining how the celebrity-blueprint
affects and fits, or doesn’t fit, into us specta-
tors’ lives. And he pins it down with vigour.
Naturally enough, the production has marks
of amateurism; the costumes and set design
especially had signs of greenness, rather than
minimalism. The actors similarly had a few
minor quirks to work out but, for kids in their
second or third years at the Arts University, it
was all completely forgivable. Their rawness
was captivating, and their sophisticated wield
of emotion and humour equally impressive.
The rest, the gritty details, will come. The
way you pick up a glass, or thrust someone
against the wall in a heat of passion. It’s a
key part of the craft, for sure, but it is fine
tuned with experience. Combed to perfection
with schooling. The awkwardness fades, like
smoke drifting across a crowded VIP room. But
passion, the way you kiss, or look someone
in the eye, and the braveness to enter into a
difficult role, or to write a difficult scene, all
that is something else. Something daunting but
singular, and nothing short of praiseworthy.
The play closes Friday August 17. Tickets avail-
able at 824-2653 and heterohetjur@gmail.
com.
Sex, Lies and Soccer
Text by Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir Photo by Gulli
What: Heterohetjur
Where: Smiðjan
When: August 7, 2007
Part romance, part thriller, part theo-
logical speculation, The Return of
the Divine Mary is a wonderfully
eccentric, enchanting read. Traces
of William Blake mingle with under-
tones of Bulgakov, Eco and Kafka to
create a fast-paced, unpredictable
drama constructed on an intriguing
premise: ‘What would the Virgin
Mary be like as a young woman in
modern society, and how would her
contemporaries receive her?’
The story follows Michael von
Blomsterfeld, inventor, acrobat, re-
bel, romantic and grandson to the
great theologian, Professor Johan-
nes von Blomsterfeld, author of the
controversial theological disquisition
‘The Return of the Divine Mary’.
After returning to his deceased
grandfather’s castle following se-
ven years on the road in search of
fortune as a circus performer, Mi-
chael constructs the ultimate circus
‘machine’ – a contraption containing, in miniature, all of the circus’s
greatest acts – and sets off to enchant the world with his ‘Circus of the
Divine Order’.
Meanwhile, Mary, Christ’s University’s greatest scholar, is on the run.
On the eve of defending her doctoral thesis, Mary finds that her disser-
tation, as well as all proof of her existence – down to the very print on
her ID card – has disappeared, and the authorities suspect wrongdoing.
The meeting of these two eccentrics leads to an unlikely collabora-
tion, (as Mary becomes first Michael’s assistant, and soon the star of his
show), a passionate love affair, and finally a tragic adventure as the duo
is pursued by an angry mob that wants to silence speculations that Mary
might, in fact, be the reincarnation of the Holy Mother.
While the world of the novel is left open to interpretation – there are
computers and cars in this world, but beyond that, the universe presented
could just as well be pre-Christian, Medieval or even futuristic – the cen-
tral question remains captivating. How would we receive the suggestion
that a pure being, possibly the mother of God, was alive and operating
within our midst? Disbelief seems to be the prevalent attitude, stretching
to venomous indignation, tempered only by a minority core of passionate
support.
Bjarnason invites us to re-explore a story so familiar to us that we have
lost sight of its astonishing strangeness and beauty. In the character of
Mary, he presents us with a beautiful, fascinating, demure and very human
incarnation of holiness and drops her at the centre of vicious intrigue that
ultimately leads to her obliteration.
Indeed, the final disappearance of Mary suggests an indictment of
the restrictions of our own imaginations. Unable to contain the idea of
holiness, or the possibility of divinity in the broadest sense, we devise
devious, rational means for destroying that which may be our salvation.
As such, The Return of the Divine Mary appears as a passionate plea for
the primacy of the imagination and the need for belief – be it sacred or
profane – as intellectual challenge, as spiritual growth, and above all as
a vital humanising impulse.
The Return of the
Divine Mary
Text by Tobias Munthe
The Return of the Divine Mary
by Bjarni Bjarnason
(Uppheimar, 2007)
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