A Selection of Nordic Plays Represented by Nordiska Aps

A SELECTION OF NORDIC PLAYS
REPRESENTED BY NORDISKA ApS

BERGLJT RNADTTIR
(Iceland)
MASSACRE
1F/1M
Drama
This is a mad and macabre showdown between a mother in mental and physical decay, and
a failed son who is ready to spear his mother. Cora is sitting with a whiskey bottle in reach,
reflecting on her wasted life, in which she has kept up appearances in a violent marriage
with a charming psychopath for 30 years. After 6 years, Felix [The Happy] returns to his
childhood home. Neglected and ruined by an upbringing in the alcoholised home, he has
come to deal with the past and to find an explanation for his upbringing. Welcome to a
grotesque and infected universe of life lies, pent-up rage, spiteful words, can food and
kitchen knives.
PER OLOV ENQUIST

(Sweden)
NIGHT OF THE TRIBADES

2F/2M
Black Comedy
Enquist's first play is the story of August Strindberg; his wife, Siri; her lesbian friend, Marie
David; and the young actor, Viggo Schiwe who meet to rehearse Strindbergs one-act play
The Stronger. It has been produced all over the world from Eastern Europe to Broadway and
has been translated into more than 20 languages.
RAINSNAKES
2F/2M
Black Comedy
A meeting between the elderly, legendary Danish actress, Johanne Louise Heiberg, and Hans
Christian Andersen. They each come from the slums. They each have, despite all obstacles,
achieved fame. They each have a desperate need for love, yet lack the ability to love. And
they each hate the other, in this black comedy which ultimately develops into a drama about
love. Available in more than 15 languages.
NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

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www.nordiska.dk info@nordiska.dk
THE HOUR OF THE LYNX

2 F / 1 Boy
Drama
The story of a young, mentally disturbed, murderous boy who has been given a cat as a
psychiatric experiment. When the cat turns up dead, a young female psychiatrist and an
elderly female priest try to get the boy to explain why he has killed the cat. But, according to
the boy, he has not harmed the cat. Instead, the cat has died to rise again. THE HOUR OF
THE LYNX is a play about how faith, affection, and love can break the limits of reason. It has
been translated into 15 languages.
CHEKHOV'S THREE SISTERS

4F/5M
Drama
With great respect for Chekhov, Enquist has shed new light on the immortal classic about
three sisters (Olga, Masja, and Irina) whose dreams never came true. In this play, the sisters
have grown old and are reminiscing about the events in their youth which played a crucial
part in their development. Enquists fantasy has become a tremendous success on
Scandinavian stages.
BLANCHE AND MARIE

3 F / 4 M / 2M extras
Drama
A dream play about the deepest riddles of love. P.O.Enquists new play is based on the real
story about Marie Curie and her intimate friend Blanche Wittman. The story takes place in
the end of the 1800s. Blanche has been committed for hysteria and has among other things,
been a guinea pig when the doctor Jean-Martin Charcot invited people like Freud and
Strindberg to weekly sances about the riddling psyche of women. When Charcot dies,
Blanche becomes Madame Curies assistant. She offers her body to science and allows the xrays to eat her up before she dies as a torso; 41.34 inches tall, weighing 99.21 lbs. A dreamy
play where passion is scientifically proven and feelings and body parts are amputated while
the blue light from the x-rays close in on Blanche and her attempt to examine love.

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JONAS GARDELL
(Sweden)
CHEEK TO CHEEK
8F/3M
Comedy
The play deals with loneliness and the longing for tenderness and sex. An aging drag queen,
Ragnar Rnn, meets an undertaker, Margareta Ledin, through a personal ad. They are both
lonely and a mutual attraction arises. He becomes her idol, she his slave. Ragnar has an
unfulfilled dream of becoming a legend like Judy Garland and Edith Piaf. He surrounds
himself with older women, and uses them to act out his sadistic tendencies. He gives these
women a sort of superficial happiness while acting as a satanic Jesus. The play, both comic
and grotesque, is above all heart-wrenching in its display of how the need for love and
tenderness can be exploited. It has had 3 successful runs in Sweden. It was also performed
on Swedish television, directed by the author.
PEOPLE IN THE SUN

3 F / 2 M / 1 BOY
Comedy
An engaging play about confrontations on a midsummers night. Two young couples have
rented cabins next to each other at a holiday camp, and even though they dont know each
other, the couples decide to spend the evening together. One couple has a small son, Simon,
who has refused to speak for three years. While sharing a meal, as weather turns violent, the
adults' carefully created facades start to crack. An old lady, Mrs. Sorenson, arrives. She does
not intend to make trouble, but inadvertently does as she personifies the very issues the two
couples each try to avoid: responsibility and guilt. Mrs. Sorensson preaches that God is
finally getting bored with mankind and is now hitting the fast forward button. Mrs.
Sorensson and Simon happily agree. Throughout the play, Jonas Gardell masterfully
contrasts sorrow and despair with joy and laughter.
SCHEHERAZAD
1M
Monologue
This monologue is a wonderful vehicle for an accomplished actor. The title pays homage to
the greatest story teller of all, Scheherazade, narrator of Arabian Nights. In Jonas Gardell's
fascinating play, the Scheherazade character is a wheelchair-bound, middle-aged man, alone
on stage surrounded by mirrors. He is an enigmatic person, a coquettish wreck, who is
trying to convince the audience and himself of his power as an entertainer. At the same time
he reveals the terrifying price one pays to entertain. In a sequence of archetypal persons,
fictional and authentic, he identifies with not only the heroines of H. C. Andersen's The Red
Shoes and The Little Mermaid, but also with Oscar Wilde and Truman Capote. As an artist,
he declares he is telling the truth by lying. This leads to a schizophrenic battle between the

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role, the identity of the artist, and the pressure upon him to entertain. In the end he smashes
the mirrors which show him the truth. Gardell's play is as moving as it is witty.
HELL IS MEMORY WITHOUT THE POWER OF CHANGING ANYTHING
3 F / 2 Girls
Drama
In this play Jonas Gardell shows a darker side than before and he has written a captivating
drama about the relationship between close family members and death. With reminiscence
of the dream like dramaturgy of Strindberg and with an exceptional talent for building
characters Jonas Gardell has succeeded in creating a play which you find hard to shake off.
Challenging parts for actresses between the ages of 35 50.
HRAFNHILDUR HAGALIN GUDMUNDSDOTTIR

(Iceland)
I AM THE MAESTRO
1F/2M
Drama
A young gifted musician, Hildur, has been taught by the Maestro since she was six. Now on
the brink of her international breakthrough, she wishes to distance herself from the
Maestro's overpowering influence. Her break from him is complicated by the huge sexual
attraction which can exist between pupil and master. Hildur currently lives with Thor, a
young, less talented musician, whom the Maestro, not surprisingly, scorns. Hildur's attempt
to resolve the many conflicting feelings and desires in her life results in meetings between
the characters where the relationship between art and life is confronted. Ultimately, Hildur is
unable to reconcile her life with her art and rejects both men and her career in a destructive
attempt to wipe the slate clean. But in Hildurs eyes it is her only chance to rebuild her life.
The play, which was premiered at the Reykjavik City Theatre in 1990, received the Icelandic
Critics Award in 1991 and The Nordic Theatre Prize a year later. The play is translated into
English, German and Swedish.
EASY NOW, ELEKTRA

2F/1M
Drama
The authors second play premiered at the Icelandic National Theatre in 2000 and was
subsequently one of seventeen plays to be selected for the anthology, Modern Women
Playwrights of Europe, published by Oxford University Press in 2001. This drama is a play
within a play, where the two layers mirror each other. Two actors, a mother and a daughter,
are trying to improvise a show which is more or less about themselves. Gradually, they lose
control of the project, revealing secret repressions in their relationship. The play had a
successful reading at the Scandinavia on Stage Festival in New York in 2001. It is translated
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into English.
THOMAS VINTERBERG & MOGENS RUKOV

(Denmark)
THE CELEBRATION
8 F / 12 M
Drama
Bo Hr. Hansen, together with Thomas Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov, the creators of the
internationally famous and award winning Dogma film THE CELEBRATION, has
successfully adapted the film for the stage. Helge, a respectable and powerful father is
celebrating his 60ith birthday with his family. During the festivities, his son, Christian
reveals a horrifying truth. He claims that his father has sexually assaulted him and his twin
sister.. But is Christian being honest? Could it be he who has the moral defect? Regardless,
the revelation destroys the family beyond any possibility of healing. The play is translated
into English and German.
THE FUNERAL
4F/4M
Drama
In 2010 the continuation of the film and play; Festen/ (The Celebration) had world
premiere in Viennas Burghtheatre. The new story is played out in a beach hotel ten years
after the tragic events portrayed in Festen. The father Helge is dead and the family is
gathered in memory of the man, who abused his children. But the curse is passed on and the
play ends up in a violent scene.
JACOB HIRDWALL
(Sweden)
THE BEDMATE
3F/1M
Drama
A nightly pandemonium takes place in a hotel room somewhere in Europe. A man has
booked a room and via the internet he has ordered a woman to keep him company
overnight, the bed maid. A strange woman suddenly enters the room with the bed maids
bag. The strange woman and the man are brother and sister and have a son who has died.
From a locked room, the sound of bells are heard, bells heard only by the bed maid. This
enigmatic play does not have a linear story line but rather uses a tableau-like dramaturgy
reminiscent of the surrealistic universe found in David Lynchs Lost Highway.

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SELFPORTRAIT OF UNKNOWN MEN

MIN. 1 M
Monologues
This play consists of approximately forty monologues which can be presented by one or
more male actors as an exercise in styles. There is no thematic context for the monologues,
though the writer suggests that a choreographic dimension could evolve. The monologues
are also perfect for radio theatre.
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

4 F / 11 M or 8 F / 7 M
Drama
In the late 90ies, the majority of the human heredity was mapped: The SK Genome. The
information matches a text quantity of 800 bibles. But what does this mean, and how can we
use this knowledge? What happens if this technique is used for the expansion of life: What
effect would eternal life have on society from an economical, religious and political
perspective? The young scientist Tekla has been hired by the company Genome. She quickly
advances the hierarchy of the company and is faced with a patient suffering from a very
strange disease: a person that genetically looks like nothing else in the world
JESPER HALLE
(Norway)
THE FOREST
5F/7M
Drama
A play for adults, performed by adults, about childhood seen from a childs point of view.
Halle describes in individual sequences, the fantasies about the unknown of eleven children
and their game playing in an enclosed forbidden forest. The play draws a parallel to the
universe that David Lynch created in the TV series Twin Peaks a world without limits
where the good and the bad stem from the raw nature. The play won the Wilhelm Hansen
Prize for best Norwegian play 2001.

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INGVAR AMBJRNSEN (plays based on Ingvar Ambjrnssens writing)

(Norway)
ELLING AND KJELL BJARNE
3F/3M
Comedy
After two safe years at a mental hospital, the middle aged and mother-fixated Elling is, along
with his good natured room mate Kjell Bjarne, let out into the so called real world. The play
unfolds as a subtle tale about two men, who generally do not seem more neurotic than so
many other people but nevertheless have to overcome some mental blocks, in order to gain
the kind of life that some call normal. Nominated for an Oscar as best foreign language film
2002. Translated into English.
ELLING: AN ENCOUNTER OF THE THIRD KIND

3F/4M
Comedy
In this warm comedy, Elling lives alone in the flat he was given by the local authorities. Kjell
Bjarne has moved in with Reidun Nordsletten and has gotten a job in a supermarket. Elling
works hard. However, his life revolves around a woman. He has met the ideal woman at a
hot-dog stand. Her interests are UFO-literature and stories about persons who are abducted
by people who are not from planet earth. Ellings imagination runs wild after the encounter
with the young woman and her interests. The situation doesnt exactly become less
complicated when Kjell Bjarne is thrown out of the Reidun Nordsletten and moves in with
Elling again, nor by Frank sli from Oslos requirements. Kjell Bjarne and Elling are together
once again
PARADISE IN VIEW
1M
Monologue
A dense and successful dramatisation of Ingvar Ambjrnsens first novel in the Ellingtrilogy. His entire life, Elling has lived alone with his mother in a concrete flat somewhere in
Oslo. The mother dies and he has the flat all to himself. In an attempt to control the chaotic
life after the mothers death, he shuts himself in, in a room with a chair, a table and a
telescope, and watches his neighbours, following their lives and identifying himself with
them. Ambjrnsens story about the withdrawn Elling is a thought provoking tale, full of
tragic-comic episodes, humour, endless desolation and bitter satire. The 200 pages of the
novel have been boiled down to a spell-binding monologue in about 1 hour.

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JESPER HYLDEGAARD
(Denmark)
ESCAPE
1M
Monologue
Based on a true story of one man's violent and extraordinary life, Hyldegaard has created a
spell-binding monologue based on the true story of one man's violent and extraordinary life.
The play, spanning early childhood through mid-thirties, not only tells the tale of a life filled
with tragedy, but also of a mans ability to get back on his feet time and time again. Nickys
life falls apart when his younger brother dies, a victim of domestic violence. His ensuing
feelings of rage and guilt at being unable to protect his brother result in a brutal and angry
life of crime, the Foreign Legion, international terrorism and prison. Nicky is unable to break
the cycle of abuse he has grown up in and inflicts terrible injuries on his own son. But, by the
end of the play, he has reconciled with his past and stops running. He creates a peaceful
existence on his own terms and it is through this clarity of mind that Nicky starts to believe
that a persons life amounts to more than a list of what he has done or what has been done to
him. This is what ultimately makes this monologue so powerful and unforgettable. The play
requires an actor with strong story telling skills and the ability to dramatize the places and
people described in the text. In addition to the actor playing Nicky, there are two voice-overs
(a nurse and a policeman). Depending on the nature of the production these roles could be
performed by the actor playing Nicky.
ERLING JEPSEN
(Denmark)
THE MAN WHO ASKED PERMISSION TO BE ON THIS EARTH

1F/3M
Comedy
Allan is a savvy young writer who knows how to use the system. In three stories: A
meeting in a courtroom for failure to pay his bills; a charge of murdering an old lady, and;
life in his prison cell on Christmas Eve, we see how Allan is able to "escape" by using his
experiences to create a space where he is at peace. A place in which he is able to do what he
wants to do as opposed to what is expected of him. The play is translated into English and
had a successful reading at the Scandinavia-On-Stage Festival in New York in 2001.
THE CURE
3F/2M
Comedy
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The play deals with a modern career woman who has difficulty getting all the aspects of her
life to function along with her career. Irene, bears the consequences of juggling her social life
with her job and tries to recuperate by going to a health resort. When she gets there, the
health resort does not exist, but is instead a place inhabited by some very bizarre individuals
and a whole lot of rabbits. The play is written with Erling Jepsens typical irony and wit,
which assures non-stop laughter. The play is translated into English.
JON ATLI JONASSON

(Iceland)
DJUPID
1M
Monologue
Every morning a young fisherman takes out on sea. Everything seems to work out fine, until
his boats starts to sink. His only hope is to swim back to the mainland. An epical struggle
begins. The play is based upon the true story about the fishermen, Gulaugur
Kristmundsson, who did the impossible, when he swam six hours in the ice cold Icelandic
sea. Edinburgh festival, 2009. English translation.
SURF
1 F/ 5 M
Drama
The play is set aboard a fishing boat, where the extreme proximity of the characters to one
another is weighing them down. The joy, sadness, dreams and songs of the ships crew mix
together with the bad weather at sea and the rootlessness of existence in this bittersweet
human comedy. BRIM received 5 nominations for Griman the Icelandic theatre awards
including Jonason as playwright of the year.
RAMBO 7
1F/6M
Comedy
Honey, a young beautiful girl awakes in bed with a 50-year-old man. She enters the kitchen
and finds his son, Johny an art student, recently returned from Holland waiting by the
phone. The ministry of defence calls and informs them that his brother Julius or Julli
Psycho is missing after battles abroad. Suddenly Julius friend, Pesi the drug dealer enters
from the raging blizzard wearing a filthy designer suit. He is on the run from two thugs who
subsequently come charging into the house. However, seeing how it is Julli Psychos
territory, the brutes hastily run off. This is a unique and modern play about drugs, dreams
and escapism about three young people in a complex world, trying to settle in.
LARS KAALUND
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(Denmark)
IN A CELLAR
2 F/ 3 M
Thriller
The play starts as a witty comedy and ends as a violent, disturbing thriller. The writer uses
the device of a middle class family at dinner to set the scene where relationships and
tensions between the characters are quickly established. The dialogue is sparkling and wellwritten. But just as the audience begins to settle comfortably into the play the writer turns
the device upside down as the play becomes a bloodbath. Victor, a previously successful
writer now suffering from a writers block, is obsessed with his wifes younger sister, Maria.
Inspired by the Greek myth of Tereus rape and mutilation of his sister-in-law Philomela,
Kaalund replays the story in modern times. It soon becomes clear that the events of the
present are as bloody and terrible as those of the past. The play, which takes its title from a
popular Danish nursery rhyme, is not for the faint-hearted or anyone easily shocked. While
it can be argued that its concept owes much to films such as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp
Fiction, and directors like Tarantino and Oliver Stone there is also a strong case for linking it
to the gory and explicit revenge dramas of the Jacobean and Elizabethan period. Whatever
its origins, the play was a huge hit in Copenhagen, especially with the younger generation of
theatre goers. The play is translated into English.
LINE KNUTZON
(Denmark)
THE LATEST THING

1F/2M
Surreal comedy
This is a play about how to survive in an unsure world. The two main characters, Paul and
Pyssern, try to find security and reassurance in their relationship, confusing as it may be.
The play opens with sweet, insecure Paul telling his temperamental girlfriend, Pyssern, the
latest bad news from the neighborhood. The threat outside is embodied by a group of
people called "the nephews". The plays third character, a caretaker, is the unlikely hero of
the story, eventually beating up "the nephews" and bringing Pyssern the present she has
always wanted. The play is translated into English and German.
FIRST YOURE BORN

3F/3M
Comedy
Five characters are searching for love. The play starts with Axel breaking up with his
girlfriend, Bimsy. Two sisters, Lis and Tis, are watching the scene from their flat where
emotional Tis is upset over what she witnesses. The following scenes introduce Trudeberg,
Axels gentle and naive roommate, and Victor, Lis and Tis neighbor, who regularly suffers
from a bad migraine. The characters spend the play trying to find their way to their one and
only true love. In the end, the audience is treated to three happy couples. The play is
translated into English and had a successful reading at the Scandinavia On Stage Festival in
New York in 2001.

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10
THE TIME IS COMING

4F/2M
Comedy
This play includes farcical and grotesque horror elements as it deals with the ways in which
one can lose time while busy catching up with one's life. A somewhat frustrated woman,
Rebekka, suffers from amnesia which seems to be the given state of most of the characters.
None of them are able to do anything about their situations except for the grotesque
housemaid, Eadie, who praises the great forces of initiative, and who bears a slight
resemblance to a vampire. Into this untenable situation arrives Puttakins, Rebekka's
youngest daughter here to celebrate her mother's birthday. It is ultimately revealed that the
young Puttakins is actually a 55-year old woman on whom the years have passed without
notice. The play is translated into English and German.
THE BUILDERS
4F/6M
Comedy
A married couple has bought a closed down hovel in order to realise their dreams and lead a
better life, and it is time to renovate the ruin. The work is of course carried out by illegal
workmen, because when youre a good person, its okay. From this point on, the workmen
are in complete control. They decide everything because they know everything. Eventually,
this reign of horror brings out the worst in the good couple. There are laughs and frights
when the soft violinist and his sweet wife in their blind obsession with the perfect life
become manipulated by a bunch of rude and very intimidating workmen who milk them for
money, whilst the anger boils over. [...] Knutzons workmens offer is a wonderful comedy for
a time with a lot of equity but no values. See it before your plumber. Berlingske Tidende.
LISA LANGSETH
(Sweden)
THE LOVED ONE

1F
Monologue
This is a catching monologue about a young woman who splits up from her boyfriend and
falls in love with an older man. In a very poetic manner, Langseth has created a wonderful
text about a young life starting anew.

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11
CHRISTIAN LOLLIKE
(Denmark)
RAPE
2F/3M
Drama
Christian Lollikes play is a harsh one, going for some of the mechanisms behind gang rape
in a society with an increasing focus on the sexual. The play fragmentarily conveys a fictive
rape case and we gain an insight into the lives of the victim and the perpetrators, thoughts
and personality both before, during and after. With a mixture of surrealism and
unpleasantly intimate realism, Lollike twists himself free from the naked provocation and
the pursuing of sensation. With a blend of tragic poetry, street lingo and strong characters,
he calls for reflection and insists on soul-searching.
NATHAN (UNTITLED)
3F/6M
Drama
Can Christians, Jews and Muslims unite in humanity? This question fascinated the German
author G.E. Lessing already in 1779 as he attempted to deliver an answer in the drama
NATHAN THE WISE. In this play, which could be described as a vision about religious
reconciliation, Nathan returns from Babylon and persistently attempts to teach the
Christians, Jews and Muslims to avoid letting themselves be controlled by religious and
cultural differences. Instead they should obtain understanding in the shared humanity
despite the differences. He succeeds in bringing together representatives from every religion
and conveys the hope for brotherhood, religious tolerance and love without prejudice. But
how do we manage this principle today? Christian Lollike has written a new play inspired
by Lessings story about Nathan the Wise. Nathan is thrown into new, harsh problems and
his humanistic ideal is challenged. Everything is based on the turbulent history of our
present time. Dare we believe in Nathans message of mutual tolerance? Do we have other
options?
SERVICE SUICIDE
1F/2M
Drama
Christian Lollikes intense play deals with the hardest decision in life. 8 suicides illustrate the
reasons for their final act. Together, they portray the shadow of society. After death they rise
again to discuss the right to die. The pivotal points are the following words dignity, value,
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12
experiences, happiness industry, unemployment, victim identity, guilt complex and fear of
the future. During the discussion they decide to invent the suicide clinic EXIT SOCIETY.
In this place you can commit exactly the suicide you desire in cooperation with an employee
from the clinic. The play is based on real stories and real material diaries from suicides,
interviews with their relatives, sociologic analysis, excerpts from homepages etc.
THE WONDER THE RE-MOHAMMED-TY SHOW

4 roles
Drama
In this new play, Christian Lollike takes Karlheinz Stockhausens famous quote as his
starting point: The terror attack on WTC in 2001 was the greatest and most ultimate work of
art at any time. A choir consisting of four rootless youngsters discuss this piece of art, a.k.a.
9/11, and the subsequent reactions of the western world. This is a sharp, analytic civilisation
critique with hair raising descriptions of terror and references to happenings and
Hollywood-pictures. This play is about terror, faith and youth however, it doesnt
romanticise terrorism. On the other hand, it questions whether or not the western world
creates the terrorists itself.
SORRY OLD MAN

2F/5M
Drama
The basis for this play are the carers and the residents of the nursing home Frydendal.
With great authority and a formidable style Lollike brings stanza of gentle poetry in touch
with the starkest of realities: blood, vomit and old mens nappies, the impotence of having to
face the declining years and the definitive end: death. The old people pass the time in a state
of uselessness. Bierman is spitting blood and can hear voices; Don Otto is blind and smokes
fat Havana cigars; Senile Vera is 81 years of age and embarks on a love affair with her 23-year
old carer, Valentin. The singer sings nursery songs in a shrill voice. Frau Frauke is in charge
of the residential home. She uses size 44 and wears shoes with a patent-leather heel and in a
mixture of simple-minded openness towards the elderly people and constructive vision she
wishes to build a look-out turret which will put Frydendal on the map of the world. The
jaunty carers Bernhard and Oh Walter who steal from the shelves of the residents and who
force the elderly people to swallow a wrist watch keep the play at the sarcastic realistic
level and introduce us to the day-to-day affairs and boring bureaucracy of the residential
home. The play alternates between quiet calm, philosophical passages and grotesque scenes
in which the dentures take over and surrealistic intermezzi with processions and songs. The
text is written with some gusto and gives a close look from the forecourt of death with its
brief rapture, and long periods of waiting with its struggles and hallucinations, its deception
and disclosures.
COSMIC FEAR or The Day Brad Pitt Got Paranoia

1F/2M

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Comedy
An Eco-calypso: The smog is heavy in L.A. The car lines are long and people in Tokyo are
lined up around the air machines. In China the incineration plants are burning holes in the
ozone layer. In Bangladesh there is a flood and families are torn apart. Brad Pitt thinks the
sky is going to fall down on us and he wants so save Planet Earth. His paranoia increases.
The climate is a hot conversation theme at Angelina Jolies Garden Party. The climate is an
impossible subject for postmodern people to involve themselves in. The climate is old news.
The climate is the God of our time. The climate is the cause of the African invasion of the
west. The climate kills environmental activists everything becomes more and more
overwhelming and reflects how privileged western people deal with lies and facts about the
subject. What is true and what is false in the debate about our climate? What happens to us
when we are constantly bombarded with threats about the approaching environmental
disaster? Christian Lollike focuses on the so-called Eco depression through three
individuals debate about the climate changes. This Eco depression seems to affect vast parts
of the western world. The significant signature of Lollike the constant reconnaissance,
defiance and exploding of dramatic conventions also dominate this play, which was
commissioned by the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. Premiered at Aarhus Teater in 2008.
ANDRI SNR MAGNASON

(Iceland)
THE BLUE PLANET

8 roles
Family play
Far away in space there is a blue planet. On this planet, only children reside and they can do
whatever they want to do because there are no grown-ups. They eat when they are hungry,
they sleep when they are tired and they play without any disturbances. The childrens
favourite thing is when the butterflies once a year fly with the sun all the way around the
planet. Then they lie down on their backs and watch the air fill up with multicoloured
butterflies. However, one day, a mysterious spaceship lands on the blue planet, and out
comes an adult. A man who claims that he can make dreams come true and change the
childrens lives just like that. A dangerous adventure follows and takes the children through
dark forests, deep valleys and up in the sky. Their friendship and ingenuity is tested like
never before. An enchanting and subtle fairy tale for children and adults. The book behind
this dramatisation received the Icelandic Literary award. The play was presented for the first
time at The National Theatre of Iceland .
LIV HEGE NYLUND

(Norway)
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SABINA
1 F / 1 Musician
A musical monologue
This work is based on the novel by Karsten Alns. The play is a vivid narrative of the
Russian Jude and psychiatrist, Sabina Spielrein, who corresponded with Sigmund Freud
while becoming the mistress of Carl Gustav Jung. Both men took advantage of her many
ideas whereas it was the Nazis who eventually took her life. In many ways, Sabinas life
mirrors the ideological, psychological and philosophical contrasts of our time. The play is
translated into German and French.
JOKUM ROHDE
(Denmark)
NERO
1F/2M
Grotesque Comedy
In this play about rotten relationships, Rohde goes from the disgusting to the sickening. It is
the story of three human beings who are at the same time the dreams and nightmares of one
another. Nero, a self-destructive, super-intelligent modern man becomes fascinated by his
home-help, a handsome blockhead named Johnny. Unfortunately, a girl named Carmen
stands between them. Carmen is the lover of both men. She and Nero once lived together,
though she now says it was unhealthy for them to do so. She lives in a small apartment in
the inner city, while Johnny and Nero live on the outskirts of town. Johnny talks of his
desire to buy a hand gun and kill someoneperhaps Nero. He is desperate to put an end to
Nero and Carmen's ongoing affair, but cannot. Finally he commits suicide. Rohde describes
this dynamic play as his darkest, but also as one of his best. The dialogue is brilliant and the
characters are grotesque.
PINOCCHIOS ASHES
2F/4M
Drama
A national ban has been imposed on art. In the provincial town of Knigsberg the ones who
secretly practice the art are severely punished. Judge Wolff is the law enforcement officer
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who is unsuspectingly kept under surveillance by district attorney Alexander Trocchi,

because of his untraditional verdicts. Secretly, Wolff practises the art himself amongst other
things, with his persistent work on the hard-boiled serial-novel Wolff saves the day. He
sentences the somewhat simple Werner to have his right hand chopped off for the making of
dolls, and soon discovers that like a puppeteer, he has power over Werner. Suddenly a crime
wave washes over Knigsberg. The play suggests a series of ideas on the rich premises of the
fairytale, in which an abandoned amusement park, scary childrens songs and an autumn
faded central European river town, forms the framework for a story inspired by crime.
DARWINS TESTAMENT
3F/5M
Drama
A drama about a man and a book that changed our world. In 1859 Charles Darwins famous
piece of work On the Origin of Species was published. A book which instantly
revolutionised science and rejected the religious story of creation with its evolution theory.
Introducing Homo sapiens on the top step of the primates development, Darwin removed
every divine glory from the human being and placed us in the middle of nature as a
product of a natural selection, in which survival of the fittest is the natural law. Ever since,
the evolution theory has inspired both Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler in their ideological
manifests. This play conveys the story about the people who tried to stop him: In Queen
Victorias London, a thick fog covers the city, and a beastly serial killer strikes again. This
time, the victim is not a society reject, but a well known scientist. Simultaneously, Darwin is
honoured for his chief work. This does not keep Scotland Yeards own inspector
Bartholomaeus from accusing Darwin for the murder. Suddenly, the evolutionary theories
are at stake. However, you will find it difficult to see through the many hidden powers and
motives under hand in the foggy city. Premiered at Det Kongelige Teater in 2008.

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ALEKSA OKANOVIC
(Denmark)
DIAMOND / DUST / SHOES

2F/3M
Comedy
The Konda family; the father, the mother and the daughters Helena and Pina, live in a
veritable jungle war in which all fight for the space and the attention and the selfcentredness has absolutely no borders. Mrs Konda loves her job as an actress diva on the big
stages, but misses a young and passionate lover in her life. Herr Konda is weary of the world
and longs for the Parisian boulevards and the poetry of Boudelaire. The nervous and
insecure daughter Helena longs for an every-day life of happy medicaments for a change,
and falls in love with the young Herr Andreas who is more interested in her younger sister
Pina who is 14 years old. The unruly and highly barrier-breaking Pina simply desires
attention at any cost. And the young, pompous Herr Andreas want it all somehow In this
grotesque comedy, Aleksa Okanoviv displays the modern nuclear family construction and
pitch into narcissism in a family on the verge of a breakdown.
MODERN LIFE!
3F/2M
Comedy
A dark comedy about a series of modern peoples cynical abuse of each other. The young
author Michel struggles with writers block whilst writing a novel about assault. His
publicist suggests that he seeks inspiration in the sex club Pier Paolo. In the club he meets
the middle-aged world famous architect Sebastian who invites Michel over for dinner in his
house in eastern France. Michel brings along his girlfriend Ariane the actress. However,
she does not know where the two men met each other. In the architects house, they meet his
wife, the depressed interior decorator Marie, and their 12-year-old daughter Mathilde, who
is a bit backward. As the evening builds up, it seems that neither of the couples are being
completely honest about the visit

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SIGURDUR PALSSON
(Iceland)
EDITH PIAF
Variable crew
Play with music
This is one of the biggest successes in Iceland and has been produced at Icelands National
Theatre for several seasons. It is the story about one of the most famous personalities of
France, Edith Piaf. The play contains songs from her extensive catalogue and portrays her
turbulent life and career chronologically: From her upbringing among prostitutes and
criminals in Paris to her life as an admired diva in the biggest music halls of the world. We
follow her in her rough times and in the euphoric periods of her life, and we are introduced
to the important personalities surrounding her. Besides Piaf there are two important
characters, P1 (a poet) and P2 (a kind of historic) who link together various time planes and
create a bridge between historical facts and fictitious elements. The text is delightfully light
even though it contains several dark chapters. It is dramatic and concentrated in a theatrical
form which will enchant the majority of audiences. In Iceland the play was performed with a
team of 12 actors, 2 dancers and 5 musicians it can be done with less or more.
JULIANE PREISLER
(Denmark)
THE SOUND OF CLOUDS

2F/2M
Drama
A sensual and poetic chamber play about how falling in love can turn into real love, though
after a while it becomes ordinary and ultimately a terribly dreadful affair in which one
almost suffocates from boredom. In a lyrical way, Preisler creates a passionate yet tragicomic
play which puts the modern way of lovemaking to the test. Huge hit at the National Theatre
in Copenhagen A most wonderful storyit is like chocolate with a surprisingly bitter
aftertaste, Jyllands-Posten

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ASTRID SAALBACH
(Denmark)
ASHES TO ASHES - DUST TO DUST

4F/2M
Drama
This is a dark, haunting story of love and betrayal. Nina, a rather serious and aloof doctor in
her thirties, is in love with Mikael, a fellow doctor at the hospital where they both work
researching the effects of brain damage. He is separated from his wife with whom he has
two young sons. Although Mikael loves Nina, he and his wife decide to live together again
for the sake of their children. Nina is distraught by this and takes her terrible revenge on
Mikaels family. This is an intelligent and challenging play which avoids stereotyping any of
the characters. The story is told with great sensitivity and the horrible dilemma experienced
by the characters is deeply moving. Ultimately, one realizes that each of the character's
desires conflict on a primordial level leading to the inevitably tragic outcome. The story is
interspersed with dream-like sequences exploring images at the fringes of the brain. These
sequences display the extremes of human behavior and hint at the tragedy to come. The play
is translated into English and German.
THE END OF THE WORLD

3F/2M
Drama
The play concerns the air stewardess Xenia who returns home after a distressing long-haul
flight. Knackered, she looses her way home as suddenly the scenery and people around her
somehow seem different and changed: so consequently she meets the predestined man with
whom she falls madly in love, the woman who claims to have her own special relationship
with time and lastly the very unlucky footballer in all, something unusual is happening, in
the outside world as well as within Xenia. Won the Prize for Best Danish play 2004 and and
the Prize for Best Nordic play 2004

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THE BLESSED CHILD

4 F / 3 M / 2 children
Black comedy
This play is about procreation and parenthood. Setting the first act in the present, the writer
lampoons a generation of adults so obsessed by their careers, ridiculous alternative lifestyles,
and the pursuit of personal growth, that they no longer notice their children. The action then
jumps thirty years forward. Women rule the world. Men are either pathetic house-slaves or
underground warriors. No children have been born for decades, and humanity faces
extinction. Then a female servant discovers she is pregnant, apparently by divine
intervention. The play ends with the birth of the blessed child, who is half man and half
beast -- the coming of a new species. The play is a grotesque satire of a race which mentally
lost its children long ago, and is now losing them physically. Saalbach experiments with the
idea that the evolutionary ladder has morphed into a wheel, bringing humans down from
their comfortable position at the top. After all, how can we consider ourselves superior
biological beings when even the simplest creatures take better care of their offspring than we
do? This is a sharp, thought-provoking piece that should be interpreted as an absurd play
rather than a naturalistic one. The play, which is translated into English, has a cast of seven three men and four women. There are two roles for children which could be played by older
actors. The play had a reading at the Scandinavia On Stage Festival in New York in 2001.
MORNING AND EVENING

4F/3M
Drama
A haunting, puzzling and quizzical play. At first, it seems hopelessly fragmented. Is this
scene an echo of another scene? A variation on it? Or a continuation? Regardless, the short
scenes hold and tease the audience's imagination. The seven actors each play multiple roles.
Each character appears in a brilliantly observed and imagined vignette, in which trivial
incidents and remarks echo things which happened to the same actor when he/she played
another character. There are three "morning scenes" that are about beginnings and the
endings lurking within. Then there are three "evening scenes", in which a sense of ending is
underscored by a perception of beginnings. In between there are four intermezzos, which
are even shorter and suggest transition, repetition, and uncertainty. Each story has a sense of
completion, yet there is the suggestion of endlessness. The effect is kaleidoscopic,
impromptu, yet carefully planned. The play was successfully performed at the Hampstead
Theatre in London in 1995. In addition to English, it has also been translated into German
and French.

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PIETA
1 F / 1 M (Silent role)
Monologue drama
After a night out drinking, the middle-aged Rie wakes up in a hotel room with a stranger
lying next to her. For a long time, she has been living on the edge her career and private life
is going down hill, and she is entangled in a web of self-deceit, lies and scandals. Yet, in the
hotel she experiences something which will make her fall out of the frying pan into the fire.
This is a modern tragedy about a woman who was given all the opportunities in the world,
but was unable to deal with the ever-increasing pressure put on her by herself and her
surroundings. Several themes from Astrid Saalbachs earlier works reappear in this play. The
poetic mixed with a psychological depth and the existential anxiety of the human race
obtains the audience in the most painful place a place in which catastrophe lies in wait.
Piet is the Italian word for charity, piety and a plea for mercy. Furthermore, it is a name for
an artistic portrayal of Virgin Mary with the dead Jesus in her lap. The most famous Piet is
Michelangelos Piet in Rome. Produced at the Stockholms Stadsteater, the Husets Teater
and the Aarhus Teater.
RED AND GREEN

3F/2M
Drama
In a war torn country far from Europe we meet a group of people attached to various
development projects. In a series of intensive scenes in no particular chronological order, the
conditions of the relief work are being questioned: How to succeed in a culture which they
do not understand? And how can they help? Do they follow the rules or do they depart from
the rules? How do you stay true to yourself, when at regular intervals you are required to
change country? And the optimism, when ones projects all fail? Various ideals have brought
them here, but none of them remain unaffected by their fine salaries, and as time goes by,
they develop a barrier-breaking attitude towards themselves, and in relation to each other.
Our western ideals meet with a hard as nails reality in the third world. This new play by
Astrid Saalbach is thrown like a bomb right down in our West European self-sufficiency.

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HAVAR SIGURJONSSON
(Iceland)
ANGELS
3F/3M
Grotesque drama
A wry, grotesque and tragic-comical story about three generations of the same family, in
which incest, violence and alcoholism have been permanent ingredients. Parents and
grannies appear in flashbacks from a traumatized past before the two youngest members of
the family and thus create the schizophrenic reality which a visiting psychiatrist attempts to
penetrate. An outstanding piece of Icelandic drama staged in Ottawa and St. Petersborg; at
the Soho Theatre in London and at The Schaubhne in Berlin.
I AM ISBJORG I AM LEO
4F/4M
Drama
Grimsdottirs novel from 1989 was an instant success and immediately marked her as one of
Icelands most prominent authors. In her work, she touches on issues such as child abuse,
violence at home and child prostitution. This adaptation, however, focuses on the Isbjrg
character, who is charged with murder (split into two characters) and her shocking
conversations with her lawyer. A brutal text rich on food for thought!
THORVALDUR THORSTEINSSON
(Iceland)
POCKET PLAYS (1988 1996) are a unique series of 80 miniature plays and stories
full of wry and surreal humor. It is a well-known cult in Iceland, both on television
and radio, in a book and on the stage.
AND BJRK OF COURSE
4F/3M
Black comedy
A black comedy about a self-help group, group therapy and national feeling. In this
crazy and spirited play, Thorsteinsson exposes the neuroses and complexes in a
group of people who believes in happiness. The play was a great success in
Reykjavik and Theater der Zeit announced it to be among the three best Icelandic
plays during the last couple of years. Royal Court did a reading of it in December
2002. Thorsteinsson received The Icelandic Theatre Award for best Icelandic play
2002/2003.

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LARS von TRIER

(Denmark)
DEAR WENDY
Dramatisation rights
The young loner Dick lives in a poor mining village in the southern USA. By coincidence, he
comes to own a gun. When he discovers the power and possibilities of weapons, he initiates
the establishment of a club: The Dandies. A brotherhood of armed, peace loving outsiders.
They each have their own, personal gun which they name, and in an abandoned mine, they
gather their strength and unity. They are only allowed to use their guns in the club. But rules
will be broken if highly necessary A theatrical version of the film is produced at the
Schauspiel Frankfurt, January 2008.
http://www.theaterkanal.de/theater/deutschland/hessen/frankfurtmain/478/
EUROPA
The American Leopold Kessler arrives in Germany after the Second World War, to find a
Europe in ruins. With a nave desire to help the country back on its feet, he works as a
conductor in a sleeper. He wants to stay completely neutral, but that is indeed easier said
than done, because in no time he becomes involved in a political struggle for power over the
ruined land: The Nazi terror group Werwolf provides him with a bomb which is to be
detonated in the train on a bridge. But there is a big difference between a conductor and a
bomber
A theatrical version of the film is produced at the Dsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, november
2007:
THE BOSS OF IT ALL
The owner of a computer company wants to sell. However, there is just one problem: when
starting the company he invented a fictive manager to cover up himself when unpopular
decisions were to be made. When the potential buyers insist on meeting with the manager
face to face, the owner has to hire a failed actor to pose as him. The actor finds himself
tangled in a web which will test his (missing) morals. Lars Von Triers latest film has thrilled
audiences and critics worldwide latest in New York with good reviews which e.g. draw
parallels to the popular British comedy show The Office.
Visit www.direktorenfordethele.dk

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THE IDIOTS
Dramatised by Burkhard C. Kosminski and Ingoh Brux
4F/4M
Drama
Via interviews the plays persons reveal their views on each other and their non-idiot
players. The play begins with Karens encounter with the idiot-people in a restaurant. She
accompanies the idiots back to their residence. It turns out that the residents of the house are
all more or less idiots but they are not greater idiots than Karen is herself. As time passes,
the residents test each other to see if each person can, and dare live as idiot among nonidiots. When the leader of the idiots, Stoffer decides that they now have to find out if they are
living on a lie or if they really dare live out the feelings, the house quickly falls apart. Karen
goes home to her family with one of the other residents but quickly realises that her time
with family is over. First opening at the Schauspiel Frankfurt December 2004.
BREAKING THE WAVES

Dramatised by Vivian Nielsen
3 F / 6 M / a minimum of 2 extras
Drama
This play is based on Lars Von Triers Grand Prix Du Jury (Cannes) winning film. The play
takes place in the early 70ties in a tense and religious society located on a distant coast in
northern Scotland. It tells the story of Bess, a young, naive and innocent girl and her deep
encounter with love. Bess lives in a narrow, calvinistic world, well protected by her family.
She falls in love with Jan, an experienced and older worker at a drilling platform and man of
the world. Despite the resistance of the locals they get married and Jan returns to the drilling
platform while Bess counts the days until he returns. She is certain that their love is blessed
from above, especially because she is convinced she can communicate with God on a mental
level. When Jan is paralised after an accident, he fears that Bess will cut herself off from a
normal life. Chained to the bed, he convinces her that he will recover sooner if she finds a
lover and tells him about their sex life.
DOGVILLE
Dramatised by Christian Lollike (DK)
9 F / 11 M / Extras
Drama
The beautiful Grace is fleeing from gangsters and reaches the small isolated town, Dogville.
With a little help and convincing from the author Tom, the citizens offer to hide Grace who
in return will have to work a bit for everyone in town. When the police search for Grace,
everyone in town, especially the men gradually demand a bit more work for the risk of

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keeping her hidden. Grace learns in the most horrible way that the goodness she has
found in Dogville is relative. However, Grace has a secret that will prove fateful both for
herself as well as for the good citizens of Dogville
ANTICHRIST
1F/1M
Drama
Antichrist is about a couple who, after the death of their child, retreat to a cabin in the
woods where the man experiences strange visions and the woman manifests increasingly
violent sexual behavior.
MORTI VIZKI
(Denmark)
MARK OF CAIN
1F/2M
Drama
The play was performed at the famous Bonner Biennale in Germany in 1996 and was also
nominated for The Nordic Drama Prize. The story of Cain and Abel is well known. It was the
first murder on earth, a fratricide. But how did it really happen? What caused it? Was it
jealousy, was it the Lord, or did Lucifer (here a beautiful woman) engineer it? As the play
opens, Paradise has recently been lost. The two brothers are aware that their parents were
there. They are also aware that Paradise will never be a part of their own lives. Envy and
animosity grow between Cain, the brother keen on adapting to their world, and Abel, who is
defiant against the Lord and lustful for sheep and femmes fatales. The beautiful Lucifer
arouses desires and thoughts in both brothers. She plays them against each other and ignites
a flame which she fans into a massive inferno. The play is translated into German.
GRAY
1F/1M
Poetic drama
This is a dramatic yet poetic monologue inspired by Oscar Wildes character, Dorian Gray.
Gray is a young beautiful man, who wants to believe in God. His wish is fulfilled, though in
a rather diabolic manner, as he becomes a plastic surgeon, who is able to recreate man. So, as
in the original story, Gray sells his soul in order to uphold his handsome appearance.
However, when looking in the mirror, he cannot hide from seeing his own soul in depravity
trapped in his decaying body.

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NIKOLINE WERDELIN
(Denmark)
CONNOISSEURS
3F/3M
Drama
The play takes a witty and sarcastic look at the relationships of five upper middle-class
people in their thirties, the successful yuppie generation. Nicoline Werdelin draws a razor
sharp portrait of the successful having-it-all generation and its crumbling relationships.
Through the interactions of these five people, Werdelin comments on a generation too selfabsorbed to genuinely care for anyone but themselves. The group claim to be friends even
though their meetings are characterized by nothing more than a superficial interest in each
other. CONNOISSEURS is a bittersweet play, which examines the state of human
relationships in the'90s. It offers no solutions, but rather asks why is it that well educated
men and women, so committed to their careers and material welfare, are unable or unwilling
to invest in crucial personal relationships.
THE BLIND PAINTER

3F/1M
Drama
This is the story of a famous painter, obsessed with his art and his ego. He does not see other
people and is blind to the women in which he mirrors himself. He arouses compassion in
these women while at the same time he appears dangerous and destructive. Two possibilities
are presented: One may choose to live alone, or with another person. This, in turn, leads to
two more possibilities: One may be alone and happy about it, or alone and unhappy about
it. Furthermore, it is possible to be a couple and be happy about that, or to be a couple and
be unhappy about it. The point of Werdelin's play is that all of the possibilities are bad, and
consequently all are destined to go wrong. The play is translated into English.
THE ROBIN-ANTHEMS
2F/5M
Tragicomedy
This is a very beautiful and tragicomic play about dying and different ways of dying: in each
of the five brown hospital beds on stage, five dying men are sleeping. One after the other,
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they wake up and discuss women, victories, losses and the sorrow from having to leave
early. However, by the time the sun sheds its first rays, most of them have given up their
struggles
MY TWO SISTERS
3F/2M
Drama
Werdelins most recent play is a bittersweet story about three self-seeking sisters who meet
in the family summer house several times a year. The eldest sister, the bestselling writer
Leise following three failed marriages and several relationships has a great need to be
desired by men. Boel leads the life of a caring housewife with a husband and four children,
but has a problem controlling her own life. The youngest sister, Neel appears to be
uninterested in finding a husband and starting a family, but finds her knowledge of love in
the books with which she surrounds herself. The young obliging man next door come to
play an important role in the lives of all three sisters and their abdomen. He makes much
of them and seduces them one by one and becomes the one to puncture the vital lies in
which the sisters live. All three of them become wiser in this play about sisterly warfare and
solidarity and the strength of the play is the speciality of Werdelin: A womans way of
measuring herself by other women. Few have the ability of Werdelin to show the role play
of this sex with sweet memories and knives up their sleeves. The play is a wonderfully funny
description of manners of the lives of women here and now with love, which come and go,
and where the dream of eternal youth is being shaken by the inevitable old age. This new
play offers a good challenge to the actors. The production was a great success at Husets
Theatre in Copenhagen and went on to win the Reumert Prize for best Danish play of 2001.
LINE MRKEBY
(Denmark)
HAPPINESS
2F/2M
Comedy
When the self-effacing girl Karin losses her mother, her world falls apart. Being declared by
her younger brother and having the maid as her only social amusement, Karin is left with
herself and her loneliness, until she meets the homeless boy, Johannes. This is a love story
about living on the edge of society and normality. A catching story about a womans right to
her own life despite a suffocating love, protection and control.

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NIELSEN, VIVIAN
(DK)
FLASHING LIGHTS
A Stage Version of the feature film Blinkende Lygter by Anders Thomas Jensen
2F/7M
Comedy
One of the most successful Danish films from the year 2000 has now been adapted for the
stage: Thorkild and his gang owe a great deal of money. To pay off the dept they are to pick
up a suitcase in a villa. During the break-in, they discover that the suitcase contains a large
amount of cash. They decide to run off to Barcelona with the money. However, problems
quickly emerge: Peter is hurt during the break-in and their escape-car breaks down. They
stay for the night in a closed down pub and when the natives think that they want to open
up the pub up for guests, Thorkild decides that they should stay there. The relationship
between the four men faces a challenge, and the old dept will soon cause problems once
again.
ASTA - DIE ASTA

2F/3M
Drama
Set in an empty theatre in Nazi Germany in 1936, Vivian Nielsen explores Asta Nielsen, the
worlds first silent movie star. Asta and her sister Johanne are escaping Hitlers Berlin.
Johanne is dying and Asta is fighting to keep her alive. Through Johanne, we experience the
extraordinary destiny of her sister. Asta learns to trust her intuition rather than listen to
others. She discovers that her greatest intimacy is experienced with the camera lens and
begins her exploration into the double nature of acting. She dissolves herself into a myriad of
roles, seeing transformation as the true character of her being. This causes conflicts in Astas
private life. Her two husbands each set out in their own way to capture Asa, but they both
fail. Through the eyes of the dying Johanne the play breaks into a highly visual concept,
bringing the original silent movie clips on to the stage. It is a platform for reinventing the
magic of the expressionism in German film.

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BRANDES!
2F/3M
Drama
German translation
Brandes is a play concerning the fact when women are fascinated by powerful men. This is
a play about Georg Brandes, who is the main character of the modern break trough and the
Father of the Cultural Radicalism. He is a dangerous seducer too, who takes the womens
liberation and especially the sexual one into his own hands. Brandes does not only
operate with the theory. This liberalism, he is fighting for, does also originate from his own
soul that is full of relish and unfaithfulness. When we meet the very young Adda Ravnkilde
she is happily engaged to the landowner Peter Scavenius. In the meantime a black cat sneaks
between them because of the sprouting authorship of Adda. More than anything else, she
wants to publish her inner thoughts which the conservative landowner without vision does
not like. A break-up is inevitable. In Copenhagen Adda meets Brandes. She chases her
dream of publishing her book and wants his constructive feedback. The meeting with
Brandes seals the faith of the young Adda. His whole life, Brandes was surrounded by
strong women whose meeting with this charismatic man became fateful and this happened
to Adda too.
JUDGEMENT NIGHT
1F/2M
Drama
German translation
A well-written chamber play, concerning the dispute between the painter P.S. Kryer, his
wife, Marie and her lover, the Swedish composer, Hugo Alvfn on Christmas Eve.
Marie is split between the security of marriage, a loving yet mentally disturbed husband and
her lover who can offer her nothing but love in a cottage. Following a heavy row, she is
forced to make a choice.
JOAN
5F/2M
Drama
This is the story about a strong and well educated woman who converts to Islam and is
accused for being involved in the planning of a terrorist attack in Copenhagen. After an
anonymous tip, she is arrested and she does not deny that she could be involved, but it is not

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as simple as it may look. This is a drama that deals with a contemporary situation and
challenges our perception of the constitutional state and our individual right to judge other
people. The title refers to one of historys strong women, Jeanne dArc.

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KAMILLA WARGO BREKLING

(Denmark)
A fitting and very entertaining trilogy about women and men, produced with great success
at Kaleidoskop and Det Kongelige Teater in Copenhagen from 2004 2007. The plays KRIG
(WAR), UNDSKYLD! (SORRY!) and PIS (PISS) can be performed together or separately.
KRIG (WAR)
2F/2M
Comedy
Krig (War) is about relationships, the many faces of love and the controversy of every-daylife. Four actors are involved in varying love constellations and situations whilst the fights
mutate. Episodes and moments from the battlefield of every-day-life are examined the
weapon being words and the greatest fear being loneliness. This is about the different ways
of men and women. Stylized images from the big and small events of life are pouring out
from the stage, armed with humour. As the play focuses on the challenges of relationships, it
is done with a lovingly cynical empathy, in which you will recognise both the most
wonderful moments and the most horrible power struggles. Premiered at Kalaidoskop,
Copenhagen. The best laugh in town Jyllands-Posten / Excellent war Politiken /
This show should be promoted to cult status. Rarely have the grotesque pleasures and
sorrows of a relationship been roasted as effectively and humorously as in KRIG. [It] is
simply a hit. Bright, Sharp, but most of all very, very entertaining. [...] Damn, this is funny.
[...] This play hits the jackpot Brsen.
UNDSKYLD! (SORRY!)
5F
Comedy
In Undskyld! (Sorry!) subtitled I am able to work even though I am crying, five women
get together. The play frames an intense sance of grievance and confessions from the
modern womans life. All that floods the heart and the brain is emerged in this part-singing
monologue, in which the women take turns at talking, shedding blood, sweat and tears in
the process. It is a comedy about all the paradoxes of the modern world, seen from a
womans point of view; Like a quilt made from rags of overwhelming truths, lies and
dreams. This play makes you wonder how everything seems to work out anyway. Premiered
at Det Kongelige Teater, Copenhagen. Excellent entertainment, moving and a precise and
fresh portrait of the modern womans life. Urban. / Dry beatings are combined with
soaking wet dreams in the Turbinehallerne () Executed with wit and smarts. Politiken /
This is honest, in-your-face, vivid and recognisable. Funny and down-to-earth. Put on stage
with a liberating twinkle. Berlingske Tidende / This is a play by women and about
women, but not just for women. This is a recognisable pleasure with lots of good laughs for
everyone. Jyllands-Posten.

Phone +45 33 11 68 83 Fax +45 33 14 44 28
31
PIS (PISS)
5M
Comedy
This is a biting comedy about todays man; his condition, his place and his mood. Mens
position in society is developing and has changed immensely since the liberation of women.
So how are men these days? What are they thinking? Its their turn! Theyre in control.
Theyre leaders again. Kings! An entertaining and raw text about five completely different
men, who reveal their inner masculine secrets. Premiered at Det Kongelige Teater,
Copenhagen. Half an hour of sublime male theatre. Funny like a revue, soft like an
embrace Jyllands-Posten / Women! Bring your men to this wonderful theatre experience
for both sexes! Urban / Five incredible actors lovingly depict todays men Politiken /
Hilarious, intelligent and entertaining male revue at Det Kongelige Teater Berlingske
Tidende / The hormones are pinding in Kamilla Wargo Breklings thundering theatrical
manifest about men. Dagbladet Information.
MARIA TRYTI VENNERD

(N)
FRANK
3F/2M
Drama
In 2004, Maria Tryti Vennerd won the Norwegian-Swedish dramatist competition for the
play FRANK. Frank, a young man, is locked up in his own prison with open doors in all
directions. He spends his time stabling, drinking milk and watching the news and refuses to
let anyone into his life. But one day everything changes. The girlfriend is not who he thought
she was and the female advocate turns out to be both an interesting and irritating
acquaintance. FRANK is a playful fable about the soul of freedom. The text is strong with
clear references to expressionistic, surreal and absurd writing. However, the play has a very
personal voice too, marked by originality, distinctiveness and the search for meaning of life.
MORE
3F/2M
Drama
A simply outstanding debut from a young Norwegian dramatist: Two young girls have
developed an extreme game with rules that must be kept if you wish to avoid a brutal
punishment. The both violent and dreamy game between Ida and Benedikte crosses the
ultimate border: Ida holds Benediktes head under water long enough for her friend to die.
Afterwards she smashes the dead Benediktes head on a rock. Ida is arrested, and the case
seems obvious. The police want a confession, the psychologists want their Freudian analysis
and the press wants its story about a lesbian jealousy drama with a hint of homo-sadism.
The play calls for an expressive staging, and it is written in an almost surreal style of farce
with sharp dialogues in continuing scenes. The title MEIR (MORE) hints at the human
beings need to play with boundaries and expose itself to greater dangers.
Phone +45 33 11 68 83 Fax +45 33 14 44 28
32
NATIONAL TEST
5F/6M
Drama
also German translation
In a small local community the students are waiting for their early exam, when they
threatened by a potential school massacre. Can it be the former student, Vidar, who plans to
kill them all? No matter what, they are forced to take their exam. Trytis text is about fear
and especially fear of the unknown and different. The play is a dramaturgical collage, an
energy boosted youth drama with snappy lines and an action, which simultaneously
develops in more levels. The play premiered at Rogaland Teater in 2011.
NEVERLAND
2F/4M
Drama
Michael Jackson, morphine and bunnies; This is a sorrowful and cheerful story about
imagination as a way of dealing with pain. The main character dreams his way to Michael
Jacksons surreal and luxurious Neverland, where a synthetic pop-universe wraps the soul
like cotton candy. Its a world, where the bounder between dream and reality is unclear.
Humans need comfort, but what happens when a child dies and when the doctors are
incapable to help? When no one can help and a mother in despair tries to find a way out? A
dream scenario with Michael Jackson as the leading element is one of the ways to try to save
the child and to keep death and reality away. The King of Pop spreads joy in the corridors of
death and relieves the mothers sorrow. Thereby Neverland becomes the last chance and the
final adventure. Premiered at the Norske Teater, 2010.
SAFARI
1F/1M
One act
German translation
Molly is the day-to-day head of a secluded zoo. She feels competent in her leading skills and
dreams of a job in the city at the mangers company. The hope increases when she is paid a
visit one night after the yearly manager-reception. The well intended and idealistic deputy
manager comes, drawn to the exotic and unfamiliar. The result is a clash of two worlds. It all
begins with loud screams and good intentions but ends in disaster.

Phone +45 33 11 68 83 Fax +45 33 14 44 28
33
LINE MRKEBY
(DK)
LYKKE BJRN
2F/2M
Comedy
When the self-effacing girl Karin losses her mother, her world falls apart. Being declared by
her younger brother and having the maid as her only social amusement, Karin is left with
herself and her loneliness, until she meets the homeless boy, Johannes. This is a love story
about living on the edge of society and normality. A catching story about a womans right to
her own life despite a suffocating love, protection and control.

Phone +45 33 11 68 83 Fax +45 33 14 44 28
34

A Selection of Nordic Plays Represented by Nordiska Aps

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A Selection of Nordic Plays Represented by Nordiska Aps

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A SELECTION OF NORDIC PLAYS

REPRESENTED BY NORDISKA ApS

PER OLOV ENQUIST

NIGHT OF THE TRIBADES

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

THE HOUR OF THE LYNX

CHEKHOV'S THREE SISTERS

BLANCHE AND MARIE

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

PEOPLE IN THE SUN

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

HRAFNHILDUR HAGALIN GUDMUNDSDOTTIR

EASY NOW, ELEKTRA

THOMAS VINTERBERG & MOGENS RUKOV

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

SELFPORTRAIT OF UNKNOWN MEN

THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

INGVAR AMBJRNSEN (plays based on Ingvar Ambjrnssens writing)

ELLING: AN ENCOUNTER OF THE THIRD KIND

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

THE MAN WHO ASKED PERMISSION TO BE ON THIS EARTH

JON ATLI JONASSON

THE LATEST THING

FIRST YOURE BORN

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

THE TIME IS COMING

THE LOVED ONE

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

THE WONDER THE RE-MOHAMMED-TY SHOW

SORRY OLD MAN

COSMIC FEAR or The Day Brad Pitt Got Paranoia

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

ANDRI SNR MAGNASON

THE BLUE PLANET

LIV HEGE NYLUND

who is unsuspectingly kept under surveillance by district attorney Alexander Trocchi,

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

DIAMOND / DUST / SHOES

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

THE SOUND OF CLOUDS

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

ASHES TO ASHES - DUST TO DUST

THE END OF THE WORLD

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

THE BLESSED CHILD

MORNING AND EVENING

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

RED AND GREEN

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

LARS von TRIER

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

BREAKING THE WAVES

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

THE BLIND PAINTER

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

ASTA - DIE ASTA

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark

KAMILLA WARGO BREKLING

NORDISKA ApS Aabenraa 5, 4th floor DK-1124 Copenhagen Denmark