Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.10.2008, Blaðsíða 23

REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE | ISSUE 16—2008 | 23
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INTERvIEW BY BeRguR eBBI BeneDIKTSSon — pHoTo BY gAS
The entry hall of the Icelandic National Theatre’s Smíðaverk-
stæði, is filled with a Shakespearean props; armor, swords
and Elizabethian furniture, are scattered all over the room.
The theatre-hall where the play is delivered has no props at
all. It is actually more like a slaughterhouse with varnished
floors and plastic covered seats. The idea behind the prop-
filled entry hall versus the stripped down stage is not a co-
incidence.
“When people walk in they can sit down in the entry
hall and have a beer surrounded by all these props that re-
mind them of a typical Macbeth production. But when they
go into the stage hall they are supposed to be stripped of
everything except the play itself,” explains director Stefán
Hallur Stefánsson violating a long held believe that uttering
the word “Macbeth” during production will curse the play.
MACBETh: AlSo CRAZY oFFSTAGE
“Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth,” says Tobias. “I don’t think
there is a curse. I think mishaps that take place when the play
is set up have more to do with the ego of the actor playing the
main role. The role is very demanding and the actor playing
it has to become a maniac in some ways and that can create
problems,” he says and grins, perhaps because it is director
Stefán Hallur who also takes on the role of the mad Scottish
king and murderer. Maybe Tobias has a point though. Dur-
ing our conversation, Stefán Hallur has problems staying still.
He walks the floors and instead of answering questions in a
calm manner, he delivers short dramatic monologues about
the production.
“Our goal with this production was to do something
more than deliver text. We want to show rather than tell. It
is supposed to be driven by action. Tobias and I examined
the original English text by Shakespeare carefully and tried
to find the core in the story. The dialogue was then made out
of three different Icelandic translations and the outcome is
supposed to be focused on the story instead of the words,”
says Stefán Hallur and points out that a delivery of the origi-
nal text can sometimes take more than four hours in perfor-
mance but this version will be finished in about an hour and
a half. “We are not dissembling the play because it is 400
years old and somebody had to do it, or because we think we
are young and hip and Shakespeare is old and boring. On the
contrary our goal was to show respect to the storyline and do
our best to deliver that,” he adds.
STuDIED DICTAToRS
So the play is not modernized or put into Icelandic context?
“No it’s not,” says Tobias. “Still we’ve studied certain things
that took place long after the play was written, like the re-
lationships some Eastern-European dictators had with their
wifes,” he says and names Ceaucescu and Milosevic as ex-
amples but their wives, like Macbeth’s, played a big role in
their abuse of power. “The text is not altered to put a light on
contemporary events but it is so brilliantly written by Shake-
speare that it does it anyway,” says Stefán Hallur and points
out that the play might put recent developments in Reykjavík
city politics in a new perspective.
What about non-Icelandic speaking theatre-goers? Is
there something in the production for them? “I think this
play is more accessible to non-Icelandic speakers than many
other shows in Iceland. We use stage-craft in an authentic
way and at least I will enjoy the play very well though I don’t
speak the language,” says Tobias and chuckles.
Macbeth: Brutal and Direct
INFo
Macbeth is shown on the
Smíðaverkstæðið stage of
the National Theatre in
November.