Theatre History Overview - Part 29 - Icelandic Theatre

The history of the Icelandic theatre goes back to the late 1700s. The first well-known Icelandic play is Narfi, written by the well-knonw Icelandic playwright Sigurður Pétursson (1759-1827). It was based on Jean de France, one of Ludvig Holberg comedies. This comedy focuses on what happens to a young Dane when too much of Paris rubs off on him. In a way, this reflected how Iceland tried to keep its culture through theatrical performances while under Danish rule.

There was a flourishing of Icelandic drama in the 1860s and 1870s. Iceland's first stage designer was Sigurður Guðmundsson (1833-1874). He encouraged poets to national drama based on Icelandic folklore. He used what was known as "tableaux vivants," which were static scene pictures, but they were also living as they used actors to create the pictures seen on stage. He would use this in order to recreate pictures of old Norse sagas.

Jochumsson (1835-1920) became Iceland's most beloved poet. In 1862, he wrote The Outlaws. In 1871, Indriði Einarsson (1851-1939) wrote New Year's Eve, inspired by Ludvig Heiberg´s Elverhöj and Shakespeare´s Midsummer Night´s Dream. The Reykjavik City Theatre was founded in 1897. In the 1900s, Icelandic theatre flourish again. The playwrights Jóhann Sigurjónsson (1880-1919) and Guðmundur Kamban (1888-1945) wrote their plays in both Icelandic and Danish. Then on April 20, 1950, The Reykjavik Theatre Company was formally opened.

In the 1960s, fringe theatre started to make its mark in Iceland. In the later half of the 1900s, theatre, children's theatre, opera, and ballet grew in popularity in Iceland. Many theatre performances and theatrical events still exist in Iceland. On March 9, 2003, the Theatre Museum of Iceland was established in Iceland in order to preserve the theatre history of the country.

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