PINK

August 07, 2018

This quote from our interviews with men about their gendered experiences really caught my attention. As a woman I can’t count the times I’ve thrown on clothing from the men in my life, but I struggle to remember a single occasion where a man put on one of mine without it being a giggly impulsive game or a joke.

My experience within the fashion industry is very limited, but I'm keen to understand why my garment would be reduced to an instrument of embarrassment when placed on the men in my life.

Maybe it's because the fashion industry is focused on practicality and upscale uniformity for men while female attire is meant to flatter the figure, elevate beauty and express stylised ideas of her identity. Clothing that is designed to be beautiful rather than practical might therefore express that the man wanted to be admired, and announce him as a target for objectification. After all, we have been taught by our justice system and media that women's clothing is a welcome sign to harassment and abuse.

I remember years ago a story circulating on social media about an Icelandic man who was shouted at and threatened for wearing floral pants on a stroll through the city centre. He was dumbfounded that an impulsive pattern choice had been perceived as a vocal political expression and compromised his safety.

Pants had innocently threatened the masculinity of Reykjavík's male population. It seems that masculinity in fact needs so much protection that a whole colour has been deemed off limits to men. While pink used to be perceived as a strong, decisive colour relating to red, the colour of blood and war, modern men tend to avoid it due to it being perceived as political statement or a submissive sign of femininity.

This, and other personal accounts of men's gendered experiences is one of the reasons I so enjoy our project Them - A research and development production where we sat down with men to learn about how they experience their gender identity and how it impacts their daily life.

- Sólveig Eva

TEATER VIIRUS HELSINKI 10-14TH OCTOBER

September 14, 2017

Spindrift Theatre is happy to announce Them will be visiting Helsinki at Teater Viirus 10 to 14 October.

We were inspired by, not the creators of, this photo

Them is a documentary-based theatre performance about men, interpreted by four women. The performance is based on interviews gathered from men living mainly in different parts of Europe and United States. Through physical expression and in the form of monologues four actresses dive into the world of men, exploring images of a masculinity and its affects on the experience of a modern man in Western society. The approach is empathic in attempting to understand the joys, sorrows and pains of manhood.

Them will be performed by founding members of Spindrift, Anna Korolainen and Bergdis Julia Johannsdottir, as well as Tinna Thorsvalds Önnudottir and Marjo Lahti. Other members of the crew are dramaturge is Minerva Pietilä, art director Louis Crevier, set designer Eva Björg Hardardottir, light designer Markus Alanen, sounder designer Kristian Pernilä and producer Suvi Nousiainen.

The monologues are performed in three languages: Finnish, English and Swedish.

Them in Helsinki:
10-14 October 2017 at 18:00 (6 PM)
Teater Viirus, Välimerenkatu 14
Tickets 15 € / 10 €

The performance will be further developed into its final form until May 2018. After every performance at Teater Viirus the audience is welcome to take part in brief discussions where they can share their thoughts and experiences on the play and its themes.

OPEN CALL

July 09, 2017

We're looking for a Finland-based producer to join our team for our next production Them. After the production premier there will be a possibility to continue as a permanent producer for the company.

Them is currently under development, and will premier with its research and development performances at the Reykjavik Fringe Festival in September and at Teater Viirus, Helsinki in October. After the autumn run the project will be further developed, and the final premier is planned for spring 2018 in Iceland/Finland.

The producer's main tasks are to work on funding applications together with the artistic directors of Spindrift Theatre, and take an active role in marketing and development of public relations in Finland, Iceland and the Nordic Countries. The producer should be familiar with the funding bodies of Finland and the Nordic countries. Fluent Finnish and English is required, and a fluency in another Nordic language is a definite plus.

We can offer a starting fee of 400 €, which should cover the part time work until the R&D performances in Autumn. We apologise for the small sum, but currently the company is working with a minimum budget. The producer will then apply for full project funding with the artistic directors, which will cover an official producer fee for her/his work on the performance.

If you're interested, please send us an email (spindrifttheatre@gmail.com) telling about your background, expertise and why you are willing to work with Spindrift Theatre. Please attach your CV as well. Deadline 17th July.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

- Anna and Bergdís

TJARNARBIO RESIDENCY REFLECTIONS

June 30, 2017

Our residency at Tjarnarbio is coming to an end. It's been a wonderful two weeks and something for us in Iceland, exploring the themes of our show, reading interviews, impersonating characters, improvising from scratch and talking about our personal relationship to the topic of the piece: men.

It's also been exhilarating to hear other people's take on our topic - both from men and women - and to look for an angle to bring these stories on stage. We have to acknowledge that we are women, right? But we have to present the male experience as authentically as possible.

A big point of development was travelling to Mikró festival in Lón, and "coming out" for the first time with some of our raw material. The audience's reactions and feedback was extremely valuable both in realising that people are actually interested in hearing these stories, and in noticing the moments where we didn't quite reach a dialogue with our spectators. Nothing beats live audience as a way of self-evaluation!

After all, we are extremely happy about all the connections and plans for collaboration we've made here, working with the Nordic House and Tjarnarbio, and being in touch with our Finnish collaborators at Teater Viirus. We are also proud to welcome sound designer Kristian Pernilä and actress Marjo Lahti to our team!

Next step will be our residency at Sláturhusid in August, where we'll incorporate video artist Louis Crevier to the rehearsal process. We're also waiting impassionately for all the self tapes of our potential Icelandic actresses! Don't hesitate to apply!

We just wanna keep going!

Pus pus!

- Anna

OPEN CALL

June 27, 2017

We're looking for an Iceland-based actress to join our team for our current production Them.

The rehearsals will take place in Sláturhusid, Egilstadir from 14th to 18th August and in Reykjavik from 21st August to 2nd September (can be flexible). The performances will be at the Reykjavik Fringe Festival in Tjarnarbio, taking place between 21st and 24th September. The performance text will be performed both in Icelandic and English, so good level in English is required.

We can offer a fee of 400 € which covers both the rehearsal period and the performance. Them will continue to develop as a performance project until 2018, when a bigger premier is due in Iceland and Finland. We hope that the actress would follow the development through with us, for which further funding will be applied.

If you're interested, please send us an email (spindrifttheatre@gmail.com) confirming your availability, and a maximum 5 minute video, where you introduce yourself and perform a monologue, poem or another dramatic text. Deadline 15th July.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

- Anna and Bergdís

RESIDENCY HELSINKI

January 06, 2017

We are currently working on the research and development for our next project, MEN (working title) at Alppila Church in Helsinki.

As four female artists we are curious about gendered experiences that reach beyond our own, and so we ask: What does it mean to be a man in today's world?

After months of individual research in Europe and North America we are excited to get this time together for intensive two weeks of research and development in Helsinki through the support of Kulturkontakt Nord's Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme.

Then on Monday we start our residency at Villa Salin, managed by the Feminist Association Unioni. We will also hold a lecture-workshop on Equality in Physical Actor Training at Maikki Friberg Home, which is part of Feminist Association Unioni's programme at the Women's Open University.

Finally, our workshop The Performer and the Self will take place at Ilmaisukellari, organised by the Finnish Actor's Union.

OUR NEXT PROJECT

October 08, 2016

As four female artists we want to explore what our brothers, fathers, husbands, boyfriends, male friends, male coworkers and male acquaintances experience that we may not be aware of as women. What does it mean to be a man?

We do not own, but felt inspired by, this photo

We are preparing this research for our next physical theatre production which will continue development over the course of the next two years.

It stems from our curiosity on human nature and itch for storytelling experiences outside our own bodies, our viewpoints, and an interest in the audience's relationship to a body telling verbatim stories that are clearly not of its own experiences.

We are looking to interview men of all ages, professions and backgrounds. In 2016 we can conduct these interviews in English, Finnish and Icelandic.

If you are interested in sharing your experiences through a simple interview with us. You will be protected with anonymity and welcome to selectively answer questions you feel are relevant to you and comfortable.

Contact spindrifttheatre@gmail.com to participate! We'd love to have you on board.

Q&A CARROLL: BERSERKUR

April 10, 2015

After each performance of Carroll: Berserkur there is a Q&A with our cast and creatives.
Your thoughts, impressions and experiences are important to us as a growing theatre company and we will share our answers to the most frequent questions here.

Tickets are still available to our limited run at Tjarnarbio: http://midi.is/atburdir/1/8849/

Where did the characters come from, how was the casting process?

We started by working from the individual. We did psycho-physical exercises focused on the Self, sometimes we worked with particular phases of our lives such as child, teenager and adult. We were curious about the choices we had made and how our self image had changed through those years: what we chose to hide and what we chose to show. Finding taboos within ourselves that we could really play with was a key theme we wanted to explore from Alice in Wonderland. We discovered that the teenager was particularly fragile as many decisions we made in those years affected so strongly who we are today.

From watching each other do and present these exercises we experienced similar emotions and atmospheres that we identified with particular characters and events in Alice in Wonderland. "Hmm, that feels like the Queen - I think this quality would be very interesting for the Cat."

From there those discoveries were worked further into quite grotesque and stylised characteristics, which were supported with symbolic and playful costumes and scenic design. The performers researched and devised their own scenes and texts based on these discoveries. Some had early on had an idea of what taboo they wanted to work and experiment with. Somehow casting became an effortless fit within our company.

Where did the end scene come from?

Because the costumes came from those stylised taboos, those sides of ourselves we normally hide but for the purpose of the show exaggerated and presented on stage, we wanted to take the costumes off and show what was underneath. That it is OK to have these darker sides, these "different shadows of Alice" as we call them in our rehearsals, because everyone has them (and plenty more). That this one quality is not what defines a person. We wanted to show different bodies together on stage in a raw manner and simply share these sides of ourselves, accept, and leave the costume, our taboo, behind for the audience - knowing that it's still a part of us.

Where did the confessions come from?

These are real confessions we gathered through a survey. Everyone in our company participated as well, and then we divided the confessions between the characters as we thought best suited their qualities and dramaturgy. So they are hopefully all truthful, and some were in fact so crude we unfortunately couldn't find a place for them onstage.

I did not enjoy sitting on a damn flower pot for a whole scene... Will that change as you continue adapting the performance?

Of course we want everyone to feel safe and enjoy themselves at our production. However, we are interested in exploring what else Alice experiences on her journey through these nine different three - five minute character scenes. How she shrank, grew, and was challenged differently by each character. We want to see how theatre can offer these different emotions and experiences rather than only being a comfortable place you enter, sit down and perhaps even fall asleep, grab a drink during break and then continue the second act in the dark. We hope that the audience experience themselves as Alice and can embrace these different confrontations, but of course we need to provide that experience in a safe manner.

Are there limitations to audience participation, how free can we be?

We decided to have certain limitations, for example how the chess pieces guide you through the space in three different groups rather than the audience walking freely. But it is an exciting challenge for us to embrace the audiences in whatever way they want to play with us, and we are eager to practice and learn from what you have to offer us.

RADIO FM957

April 08, 2015

Bergdís Júlía and Sólveig Eva discussed Carroll: Berserkur on Iceland's Radio FM957. The interview is available in Icelandic on the link below.

Vísir - Spindrift Theatre setja upp sýningu í Tjarnarbíó

- Sóla Eva

VIDEO CARROLL: BERSERKUR

April 08, 2015

This video overview of our full production by Louis Crevier and Marco Schott was initially intended strictly for festival submissions, but we decided to leave it here for anyone interested to provide a deeper insight into our work.

Carroll : Berserkur - Overview from Spindrift Theatre on Vimeo.

REASEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTION SUMMER 2014

For a full overview of our process from beginning to end, here are the pictures from our Research and Development run at Drayton Arms Theatre, London, the summer before.

Sponsored by Evrópa Unga Fólksins (Erasmus+) and Reykjavíkurborg

- Sóla Eva

TICKETS CARROLL: BERSERKUR

April 07, 2015

Bergdís Júlía and Sólveig Eva are currently on their way to radio FM957 to chat with Ósk Gunnarsdóttir about Carroll: Berserkur, but our Dress Run will be tomorrow and premiere on Thursday at Tjarnarbíó.

If you're in Reykjavik catch your ticket at http://midi.is/leikhus/1/8849/Carroll_Berserkur

- Sóla Eva

CARROLL: BERSERKUR AT TJARNARBIO

March 23, 2015

With the support of the European Union Erasmus+ and Reykjavík City funding we are now able to launch a full length version of our production Carroll: Berserkur at Iceland's independent theatre hub Tjarnarbio.

Tjarnarbio (Pond Cinema) was built in 1913 and was originally an ice storage for fishermen, the backstage was then used as Reykjavík's fire station, in WWII it was turned into a cinema, from which it became a lecture hall and a theatre. This versatile though small house is full of corners, floors, turns, spaces you need to crawl into to open sky ceiling hallways, which makes it an ideal location for our recontextualisation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland set to focus on the theme of identity: that which we hide, that which we present, the multifaceted nature of us all and our ever changing notion of Self.

In addition to our production we will now be able to travel with our workshop series The Performer and the Self which are centred on self acceptance, experimentation with different parts of your identity - in particular we encourage working with aspects we normally shy away from or choose not to present and finding the playfulness and performative potential within this fragment of our being. We are on a mission to create a feminist training practice, rid of hierarchy which embraces the entirety of the human instrument without value judgment on the various movement and vocal qualities. We believe the entirety of the human instrument must be explored playfully in order to portray a truthful range of human experiences.

We look forward to seeing you at our immersive theatre performance at Tjarnarbio this spring,

- Sóla Eva

PINK

TEATER VIIRUS HELSINKI 10-14TH OCTOBER

OPEN CALL

TJARNARBIO RESIDENCY REFLECTIONS

OPEN CALL

RESIDENCY HELSINKI

OUR NEXT PROJECT

Q&A CARROLL: BERSERKUR

Where did the characters come from, how was the casting process?

Where did the end scene come from?

Where did the confessions come from?

I did not enjoy sitting on a damn flower pot for a whole scene... Will that change as you continue adapting the performance?

Are there limitations to audience participation, how free can we be?

RADIO FM957

VIDEO CARROLL: BERSERKUR

REASEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTION SUMMER 2014

TICKETS CARROLL: BERSERKUR

CARROLL: BERSERKUR AT TJARNARBIO

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