2024年10月
History is not a straight line but a complex and ever-developing web that traverses back and forth in time and space, through personal stories, official and un-official archives and on-going research. We communicate with history, discovering new information along the way and thus remould the narrative. The lens for which we use to examine historical event can be wide-angled or narrow, each has its own purpose.
This article is a continuation from my previous one on this platform about the musical Saumastofan where I looked at a specific Icelandic theatre performance, explored the multifaceted work behind such historical research, traced the discovery of new information and situated myself in the role of the archivist. The subject for this article is still a very niche fragment of Icelandic performing arts history but a more recognisable text: The first Icelandic production of Huis clos by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1961 by the independent theatre group Gríma. The aim is to move away from more traditional literary and historical research and focus instead on the often-hidden work behind the scenes before the material reaches the researchers.
To start off on a personal note, the first time I saw Huis clos was in Hong Kong, a student production at Li Po Chun United World College in 2003 or 2004, and can reasonably assume I first heard of the play around the same period. If somebody had told me at the time that 20 years later I would be deeply embedded in the literary and archival history of the first production of the play in Iceland as part of my profession I would have never believed it. Little did I know…
The Company
The theatre group Gríma, the name translates into English as Mask, was founded in 1961 by six individuals as an independent response to recent structural changes in the Icelandic performing arts landscape. The company’s goal was to present new foreign and Icelandic plays to the public. The National Theatre of Iceland had been in operation for a decade and the Reykjavík City Theatre was on the cusp of becoming a professional company. The founders of Gríma were Erlingur Gíslason, Guðmundur Steinsson, Magnús Pálsson, Þorvarður Helgason, Kristbjörg Kjeld and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. Many of the company members were already working in the performing arts industry and all of them would become prominent members of the Iceland’s cultural landscape.
On 10th November 1961, Gríma called a press conference to announce the formation of the group and its first premiere. The company’s opening gambit to shake up the Icelandic performing arts scene was the 1944 play Læstar dyr (Huis clos) by Jean-Paul Sartre which they premiered three days later in Tjarnarbíó (which remains Iceland’s home for the independent performing arts). We will come back to the minutiae of the press conference later… Sartre’s existentialist play famously centres around three individuals locked in a room together, which turns out to be Hell itself, and their inability to communicate with each other or take responsibility for their actions. Erlingur Gíslason played Garcin, Haraldur Björnsson played the waiter, Helga Löve played Estelle and Kristbjörg Kjeld played Ines. Þorvarður Helgason directed, Magnús Pálsson designed the set and Kristinn Daníelsson designed the lights.
Some details are known about the production based on autobiographical writings, photographs and subsequent reviews in newspapers and magazines, but two fundamental elements are missing from the story: The texts.
The Text
Before the performance of Læstar dyr began, the actor Þorsteinn Ö. Stephensen delivered a short lecture on Sartre and his work, as part of the company’s mission to introduce foreign playwrights to Icelandic audiences. The text for the presentation is presumed lost, but I have heard whispers of copies floating around. This remains unconfirmed, but if my experience as a performing arts archivist has taught me anything, it is never to assume something is lost to history.
Proof of this is the search for the original translation of Sartre’s text by Vigdís Finnbogadóttir and Þuríður Kvaran. This translation was also thought to be lost, or at least not accessible. Playscripts are not widely published in Iceland, especially translations of foreign plays. When tasked with the job of looking for the translation by a team of researchers associated with the University of Iceland and the Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding (they will also feature later), I set to work.
By way of various conversations over the years, with both historians and people connected to the performing arts, I knew that after his death in 2016 Erlingur Gíslason’s family donated his playscripts to the Iceland University of the Arts. A simple search on the Icelandic library database should have solved the mystery but two problems appeared.
Firstly, the title. When Huis clos premiered in 1961, it was under the name Læstar dyr (Locked Doors) which got no hits in the database. However, colloquially and historically the play is better known in Iceland by the title Lokaðar dyr (Closed Doors), which is the more accurate translation, partly due to the fact the play was performed on the radio in the 1980s at the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service in a new translation by Þórunn Magnea Magnúsdóttir and this text is available. Secondly, a name search for the two translators proved fruitless. However, a name search for Lokaðar dyr turned up a mysterious entry: An unpublished playscript in a small page format located at the Iceland University of the Arts, no publication date and no translator(s) on file.
Screenshot of the search result for Lokaðar dyr.
https://leitir.is/permalink/354ILC_NETWORK/16m2dtf/alma991009807959706886
Archivists, each in their own way, talk about the spark of electricity which they often physically experience when rifling through archives and how this reaction intensifies during a moment of discovery. Even though I was looking at an online index and not rifling through old papers my reaction was instant and physical, like the pixels on the computer screen had entered my bloodstream. I simply knew there was something there and I put in a request to have the script delivered.
When the script finally landed in my hands, the electric current came back full force. The pages are aged and in a smaller format. The text was typed on a typewriter, not printed. The characters (persónur) of the play are listed on the title page and the writing next to the characters had faded over time but there it was: Erl (Erlingur Gíslason), Kristb (Kristbjörg Kjeld) and Har Bj (Haraldur Björnsson). Strangely, the name next to Estelle did not match Helga Löve’s but instead the name Guðrún appears. A mystery I have yet to solve. Additionally, Garcin’s parts were underlined which supported the theory that this copy was owned by Erlingur Gíslason. I paged through the script looking for further clues and on page 17 there it was, Erlingur’s name written on the top of the page.
Left: The cover of Lokaðar dyr (Huis clos). The translation by Vigdís Finnbogadóttir and Þuríður Kvaran was presented under the name Læstar dyr. Note the very faded names of the actors besides the characters (persónur).
Right: Page 17 of the script. Note underlined text all relate to the character of Garcin and the name inside the triangle drawing is Erlingur Gíslason, who played the character in Gríma’s production in 1961.
The 60-year-old translation by Vigdís and Þuríður of Huis clos for Gríma, presumed lost, had been hiding in plain sight for years, on a shelf at a publicly accessible library.
The Title
A small sidenote to address the reasonable question: What about the title on the original? On the title page of the playscript in question is clearly typed LOKAÐAR DYR and not Læstar dyr which was the title Gríma eventually used. Lokaðar dyr / Closed doors is a more accurate translation than Læstar dyr / Locked doors so why did the company decide to change the title suggested so clearly by the translators? This is where knowledge of history, practicalities and promotion of the performing arts come into play. In 2023 I curated an exhibition of the work of the German artist Lothar Grund presented at the National Library in honour of his 100th birthday, a little researched stage and costume designer who worked in Iceland during the 1960s. This previous project gave me a clue... In 1954 The National Theatre of Iceland premiered Draußen vor der Tür, a German play by Wolfgang Brochert. The production designer was Grund, and it was one of his most majestic, devastating and personal work. The title of the German play was translated as Lokaðar dyr. The play was a box-office failure, with only seven performances and an audience of 1,630 people. My working theory is that the members of Gríma, who were all active in the performing arts scene in Iceland, did not want to associate the company and Huis clos with a recently premiered and failed foreign play, thus changing the title.
The Books
But the paper trail did not end with the playscript. Another element of archiving is discovering material you did not even know was lost. Recently, while on a trip to one of the National Library’s storage facilities, I walked past two cardboard boxes labelled Gríma, whose contents were un-catalogued, and something told me to open them. Inside were six unassuming and very dusty binders. I want to give the tinies glimpse, tiny because a lot of the material is still un-catalogued, into the content of the binders which were subsequently registered under the cataloguing number LMÍ 2024/16, being the 16th collection registered at the Theatre Museum this year.
Inside were the book-keeping records of Gríma for the duration of the company’s existence. Actual archiving treasure, not only because it gives a detailed account of everything the company purchased in connection with the production, but also because their accountant at the time was Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, then a founding member of Gríma and later the president of Iceland.
Left: “Læstar dyr” – This note was to designate where the book-keeping records for this performance started in the binder. There were more in the folder…
Right: The first receipt in Gríma’s book-keeping binders. Note number 1 which started a series of running numbers denoting the order of the receipts. The item is signed VF (Vigdís Finnbogadóttir).
Every single receipt of Læstar dyr was catalogued and subsequently photographed by the National Library’s photography studio, and there are 207 photographs in total. Here is where the press conference comes back into play. On the day of the press conference, 10th November 1961, two interesting purchases were made. Receipt number 38 shows a purchase of “3 Lengjur” at a local bakery and the next one (number 39) shows a purchase of “two packs of cigarettes for press conference”. One can presume, until proven otherwise, that these items were purchased to be on offer for the journalists and/or Gríma’s members. Baked goods and cigarettes, all the essentials for a professional press conference in 1961 and presumably coffee as well, which other receipts show the company bought. A fantastic example of a society and traditions that no longer exists.
Left: Receipt number 38. Dated 10th November 1961. “3 Lengjur” presumably refers to baked goods, more specifically a sweet pastry known as vínarbrauð.
Right: Receipt number 39. Dated 10th November 1961. In Icelandic: “2 pk. cigarettur á blaðam.fund VF.” In English: “2 packs of cigarettes for press conference VF.” VF stands for Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.
There are so many wonderful details hiding in these receipts. There are payslips and taxi rides, printing costs and designs, costume purchases and construction materials for the set. Some companies still exist, others do not. And a cast of signatories that tells a fascinating story about the societal fabric of Reykjavík in 1961, this includes a signature and designs by legendary Swiss artist Dieter Roth who lived in Iceland for many years and designed Gríma’s logo, the playbill for Læstar dyr and the admission tickets.
Playbill for Læstar dyr (1961) designed by Dieter Roth.
The Archivist
So far, all the receipts for Læstar dyr are catalogued and on my desk are the receipts for Biedermann und die Brandsifter by Max Frisch, another Swiss national, Gríma’s next production which premiered in spring 1962.
Gríma’s Læstar dyr holds so much more historical and personal depth than has been covered by this article. On a personal level, the performance connects with two specific research interests of mine: Queer performing arts history of Iceland and theatre criticism. Until further information is unearthed Ines was likely the first queer female character presented on the Icelandic stage. At the time all the theatre critics working in Iceland were men and it is fascinating to read their description of the cold and frigid Ines which many critics interpreted as being a man-hating criminal. I leave you with a photograph of the frigid Ines looking coldly at her object of her affection.
The cold and frigid, according to the male theatre critics at the time, Ines looking at Estelle. What do you read into her look? (Originally published in Alþýðublaðið, 11th November 1961)
On a professional level, Gríma’s Læstar dyr also exemplifies the importance of making the material of the Theatre Museum available to researchers. Often my work seems to be a never-ending and chaotic collection of threads which I will never be able to untangle. It is fundamental to establish a working relationship between the archivist and the researchers based on trust, not to mention mutual respect. Thankfully, three Icelandic researchers have been tireless in uncovering new and exciting knowledge based on some of the material written about in this article. Ásdís Rósa Magnúsdóttir, Guðrún Kristinsdóttir and Irma Jóhanna Erlingsdóttir each have their own research interests connected through their love for and professional interest in French culture and language. They will be presenting new findings at an annual conference, Þjóðarspegillinn, hosted by the University of Iceland on the 1st of November in 2024.
Gríma’s story might have ended in the early 1970s, when the company folded, but their impact and history has yet to be unfolded…
(All photos are provided by the author)
Sources:
Morgunblaðið, 11th November 1961 -
https://timarit.is/page/1339230
Entry for Huis clos in the Icelandic library system -
https://leitir.is/permalink/354ILC_NETWORK/16m2dtf/alma991009807959706886
Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding -
Þjóðarspegillinn (The National Mirror) -
https://thjodarspegillinn.hi.is/thjodarspegillinn-2024-english/
Event Programme for Gríma and the translations of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir in Þjóðarspegillinn (The National Mirror) at the University of Iceland, 1st November 2024 -
https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/events/73508/sessions/134409/download
Lothar Grund -
本網站內一切內容之版權均屬國際演藝評論家協會（香港分會）及原作者所有，未經本會及/或原作者書面同意，不得轉載。