The Guttormsson Project presents short plays by Guttormur J. Guttormsson, the pre-eminent “Poet of New Iceland”, most famous for his masterpiece, Sandy Bar. His exploration into the world of the theatre yielded ten strange and fantastical plays. These plays were recently published in English, and to coincide with this event, núna (now) will present staged readings of four of these intriguing works.
At the 2014 núna (now) festival, Guttormsson’s short play The Ring (Hringurinn) was presented to great success. Audiences were fascinated by the expressionistic style, the existential themes, formal language and surreal stage descriptions. Canadians of Icelandic descent were delighted to discover a new aspect of Guttormsson’s voice. The response from this project was such that núna (now) 2015 festival is producing four short plays by Guttormur J. Guttormsson, The Shadow, Resurrection, Know Yourself, and Immortality. They will be presented as ‘Salon Theatre’ in Winnipeg, and in the Interlake towns of Gimli, and Arborg.
The plays will be followed by a discussion with the translators, Elin Thordarson and Christopher Crocker.
Thank you to the Manitoba Arts Council in assisting the development of this project.