Iceland review - 2016, Page 17

ICELAND REVIEW 15
Brynhildur Guðjónsdóttir is among
Iceland’s most celebrated actress-
es, well known for her roles on
and off stage. This year, she was named
Best Actress at Gríman, the Icelandic
performing arts awards, for her perfor-
mance as Njáll in Njála, a play staged by
The Reykjavík City Theater and Iceland
Dance Company based on one of the
most beloved Icelandic sagas, Njáls saga.
Directed by Þorleifur Örn Arnarsson,
the show was regarded as highly creative
and daring, and won a total of ten awards
at Gríman, including Best Play and Best
Director. In 2008, Brynhildur won the
Gríman awards as Best Playwright and
Best Actress for her monologue Brák,
based on another treasure among the
Icelandic sagas: Egils saga. She has since
proven her versatility as an actress by
performing roles as different as that of
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and French
actress and cabaret singer Édith Piaf—
the latter of which showcased her singing
talent. Moreover, as a recipient of the
Leifur Eiríksson scholarship, she spent
a year in the playwriting department of
the Yale School of Drama in 2011-2012
as special research fellow, honing her
writing skills. In addition to acting in
Njála this year, Brynhildur performed the
role of Tanya—whose carefree, spoiled
character has nothing in common with
Njáll—in Catherine Johnson’s global-
ly-successful musical Mamma Mia, based
on the songs of ABBA.
Why did you choose to become
an actress?
At the age of 43, it’s hard to recollect
what I was thinking at the age of 17. I
could have ended up studying medicine.
I chose to attend MR [Menntaskólinn í
Reykjavík high school] and was planning
to take that course of study. I was also
tempted to study art, either in Paris or
California, but I ended up completing a
BA degree in French and Italian at the
University of Iceland. I had always been
very fond of English theater and looked
up to actors who had studied in England.
So, when working on my thesis, I trave-
led to London and decided I wanted to
study acting in London, where I gradu-
ated from the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama [in 1998].
Do you come from a family
of actors?
No, there’s no actor in my family. It’s a
family of merchants. My mother ran a
toy store for a number of years, estab-
lished by my grandfather. I’m the only
artist in my family. This is some kind of
calling.
You’re well known for your
singing talent. Were you tempted
to become a singer?
I didn’t start singing until I was in theater
school, and I found it very uncomforta-
ble. But I learned that anyone can sing,
and that if the connection is right, and
if the voice comes from within and
you know what you’re saying, then it
sounds right. That’s how you can sing,
because you’re constantly telling a story,
or I am at least. When an actor sings,
he or she is telling a story. My entrance
into Icelandic theater ended up being
through song, because my first role here
was in the musical RENT, directed by
Baltasar Kormákur [in 1999].
Why was a woman chosen
to play Njáll?
The issue was not whether the actor was
a man or a woman. The question was who
fit the role and was best able to interpret
it. I happen to take a keen interest in the
sagas. Njáll was a thinker who abhorred
violence. He was clever and well read in
the law. I suppose there is a Njáll in me.
I, too, am a thinker who is very inter-
ested in the law and opposes violence.
Whether a woman or a man acts his role
makes no difference. I had my eyes on it
from the start, but not because Njáll is
a man. This whole journey turned out
to be the most demanding one I’ve ever
taken; physically as well as mentally, but,
at the same time, the most enjoyable one.
The actors had to be perfectly synchro-
nized, the focus 100 percent, and the
script was quite demanding, including
long and complicated monologues.
Why should people today be intro-
duced to the sagas?
Their message is essential. This is our
beginning. These accounts were written
around 1200 about events that occurred
between 850 and 1100, or so. These
stories shed light on who we [Icelanders]
really are and where we come from.
We’re a mix of Vikings, who fled Norway
because they weren’t happy with the state
of affairs, and slaves, mostly women, they
captured in the British Isles on their way
here. They arrived here and we find out
how they shared land, how society was
This year, actress and playwright Brynhildur Guðjónsdóttir won Iceland’s
highest acting award for her interpretation of Njáll, one of the most famous male
characters of the Icelandic sagas. Vala Hafstað meets with her to discuss
her career, the theater, and how she came to act the role of Njáll.