TJARNARBIO RESIDENCY REFLECTIONS

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

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

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

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.