Reykjavík Grapevine - 26.08.2016, Blaðsíða 29

29The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2016
case the story is quite complex.”
Olga adds that the piece is a sort of
platform for various political dis-
cussions, touching on issues relat-
ing to gender identity, power and
the state—though with the piece
they are not trying to come to a
conclusion, but rather to ask ques-
tions and open up a discussion.
“We’ve been very clear about
approaching the project as artists
with humility, neither politicians
nor specialists in gender studies,”
Brogan says. “But we’re still con-
scious, aware and being critical of
the systems of power in the world,
we’re not being oblivious.” Olga
continues: “We’ve chosen a broad
context for my story. We find it
much more interesting to look at
systems of power in a larger con-
text, rather than narrowing my
experience down to for example
a discussion about the legality of
stripping.”

A regular day job

Olga says that working in the strip
club didn’t have as much of a psy-
chological effect on her as she
would had anticipated. She saw it
simply as a job, where she worked
eight hour shifts and got to know
her coworkers. “There was a
friendly atmosphere in the staff
room,” she reveals. “We helped
each other with our makeup and
putting on our costumes. We
chatted about the customers and
ordered pizza together.” The club
was an interesting place, and Olga
also sometimes felt like she was
entering a fake world where ev-
erybody was playing a game. “But
then there were these moments of
reality,” she continues. “Like for
example when each dancer had
to clean the pole before dancing,
which was always a funny and
awkward moment. Spraying the
pole with disinfectant and then
wiping it off, and then starting
the show. In the end, when the club
was closing and all the lights were
turned on was an interesting mo-
ment, it felt as if the fantasy was
switched off and everyone became
themselves again.”
But despite the vivid impres-
sions Olga gathered at the time,
she says, “we realize that stipping
is a complicated subject and em-
phasize the fact that my experi-
ence isn’t everybody’s experience.”
Brogan agrees: “I think it’s easy
to simplify the whole thing and
assume we ŕe talking on behalf
of every stripper, but it would be
madness to try to do that.”
“My family was quite open with
my strip dancing,” Olga reflects. “I
feel people tend to victimize strip-
pers, especially here in Iceland
where strip dancing is banned. I
can understand it, the sex indus-
try is a capitalistic system of pow-
er that can be very exploitive, just
like many other industries. On the
other hand, it’s always been con-
sidered empowering being a work-
er in Iceland and that’s how I saw
the women working at the club, as
hard-working.” She tells me that
working in the club was an eye-
opening experience. In particular,
she would often feel pity for cli-
ents, and ponder how interesting
it was to be badgering money from
lonely people, usually men seek-
ing friendship. Says Olga, “Work-
ing as a stripper didn’t change my
opinion about the industry in any
specific way, but rather made me
more open-minded about it all in
a broader perspective. I see a lot
of flaws in this profession, but my
experience in particular wasn’t
that hard for me.”
In conclusion, asked what she’d
like to accomplish with ‘STRIPP’,
Olga says: “I’d like to tell this very
personal story with humour and
sincerity but at the same time
address matters such as roles of
women in modern society as well
as on stage.”
‘STRIPP’ will be performed in
English on August 24 and 25. Ice-
landic speakers can see the show in
Icelandic September 2, 8, 11 and 16.
Admission is 3,900 ISK.
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G E T Y O U R D E S I G N E R B R A N D S
T A X F R E E A T K E F L A V I K A I R P O R T
"In the end, when
the club was closing and all
the lights were turned on was
an interesting moment, it felt
as if the fantasy was switched
off and everyone became
themselves again.”