Stage rehearsals for “Djöfulsins snillingur” have kicked off!
Photo: Klaudia Kaczmarek
This new Kafkaesque tragicomedy by Reykjavík Ensemble portrays the clash between an artist's identity and an immigrant's reality.
The international cast of Djöfulsins snillingur consists of five professional actors from five different countries: Jördis Richter, is in the leading role of Uriela, an immigrant artist, and other roles are played by Jordic Mist, Heidi Bowes, Paul Gibson, and Snorri Engilbertsson. The play is written by Ewa Marcinek and Pálína Jónsdóttir. Production and costume design by Klaudia Kaczmarek with the artistic assistance of Wiola Ujazdowska who are both Polish. Sound and music is composed by the Australian-Icelandic composer Ben Frost. The performance is directed by Pálína Jónsdóttir, the co-founder of Reykjavík Ensemble.
Reykjavík Ensemble International Theatre Company, known for its original productions that promote multinational and multilingual theatre artists, is currently working on their fourth theatre performance Djöfulsins snillingur. It’s a black comedy created together with professional theatre talents who bring first-hand experience of moving to Iceland and navigating migration as artists.
After the successful performances of Opening Ceremony (December 2019, Tjarnarbíó), Polishing Iceland (March 2020, Tjarnarbíó) and I Shall Always Return (August 2020, Reykjavík Arts Festival) the international ensemble is back on stage. The group is working under the direction of the Polish-Icelandic duo, writer Ewa Marcinek and theatre and opera director Pálína Jónsdóttir. Djöfulsins snillingur will premiere on the 30th of March 2023 in Tjarnarbíó.
“I am an artist. I’ve heard you need one.”
Djöfulsins snillingur is a multilingual fusion of textual, physical, visual and musical arts, inspired by Dante's "Inferno" and "Babette's Feast" by Karen Blixen. The protagonist, Uriela, a newcomer in Iceland, aspires to audition at the National Circus. Instead of finding her place within the cultural elite, she falls into a circle of tricky application and authentication processes, evaluated by the self-checkout robotic system of Krónan.
Djöfulsins snillingur is produced by Reykjavík Ensemble in collaboration with Tjarnarbíó. The project is supported by Reykjavíkurborg, Performing Arts Fund, Nordic Culture Point, and Nordic Culture Fund.
Since its inception in 2019, Reykjavík Ensemble has been advocating social inclusion in performing arts and theatre. Their multilingual and multicultural productions have engaged over eighty international performers, artists living and working in Iceland, representing different languages and cultural backgrounds. The company’s founders Pálína Jónsdóttir and Ewa Marcinek used the rehearsal pause forced by the Covid pandemic to engage in international projects. At the moment, the theatre company is taking part in two Erasmus+ European research projects on inclusion through arts, two Nordic partnerships, and is a board member of the New Nordic Network for performing arts professionals with international backgrounds.
