This month, Jacksons Lane in North London will be shining a light on theatre-makers and culture, from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. For five days, the New Nordics Festival will present a selection of live and digital shows.
The New Nordics Festival will offer insights into the theatre, artists and culture of these six Nordic countries. Each day of the festival, you can watch a new play from a Nordic country, as well as catch Q&As, workshops and talks.
The New Nordics line-up
So, what can you expect from this new theatre festival? Here’s what you can see:
Refuge by Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson (Iceland)
12th October 2021
This one-man play explores loneliness and Western angst, mass produced furniture, and much more. IKEA employee Laurence prepares to give a presentation to new recruits. But behind the scenes, he is in the midst of a crisis following a brutal breakup and the death of his mother. And IKEA becomes his only safe haven. Locking himself in the store overnight, his reflections turn to guilt, environmentalism, mortality, spiders, and the imaginary security guard that appears from nowhere.
The Woman Who Turned into a Tree by Lisa Langseth (Sweden)
13th October 2021
In the absence of anything meaningful in her life, Daphne worships her own appearance and social status. Defining herself through class, money and men. But when Daphne is forced to move out of her box-sized city centre room, she has to relocate to a cheaper alternative in the not-so-cool outskirts of town. Her new flat sports a fir tree by the window and it begins to talk to her. It’s a one-woman play about the destructive obsession with other people’s opinions, and materialism, loneliness and class.
Searching for Being by Katarina G. Nolsøe (Faroe Islands)
14th October 2021
A nightmare of a fairy-tale, Searching for Being embodies a woman’s struggle with depression through a series of vivid poems. We join her on a journey through the dark, examining a universal issue many of us face on a daily basis. Exploring the musical and poetical tradition of the Faroe Islands, this staged reading is based on real events and features live music.
Counting to Zero by Kristofer Grønskag (Norway)
14th October 2021
Counting to Zero is a figurative bomb. It begins with scene ten and counts down to zero. A stalker. A train track. The untimely death of a cow. How are they linked? A group of young people search for something that really means something, that demands a risk – something real and valuable. They all want to be seen by someone. But by who, and why does it really matter? This is a staged reading of exciting and funny mosaic events, examining the need to be seen in today’s world.
Garage by Mika Myllyaho (Finland)
15th October 2021
An ex-headteacher and a garage owner start a YouTube channel to try and save the garage from bankruptcy. Before Jack retires he wants one last attempt at saving his life’s work. And Olly sees a chance to distract himself from his failed marriage. The channel starts with the two men offering advice on how to fix tools, cars and parts. But it soon becomes riddled with controversial and unedited reflections on society and class, which draw in a much bigger online audience than anticipated. Garage is a dark comedy full of heart, exploring how two very different people can sustain a friendship.
No Planet B by Vivian Nielsen (Denmark)
16th October 2021
Two women lead a performance lecture on climate change to brazenly inform us about the current situation of our planet. They embark on a frantic journey to solve the crisis once and for all. Listing the facts and statistics of what is happening to our planet – and expressing their concerns for their children, families and jobs – they try to find a solution here and now, with you, the audience. But as the information becomes more and more overwhelming, and the solutions seem further and further away, the two women spiral into absurdity in search for a plan(net) B. This is a dark comedy about the state of the climate crisis and where we fit into it all.
The 2020 New Nordics Festival was cancelled due to Covid-19. So now, the festival will showcase the creativity and works this year instead. It’ll have live performances which are filmed in real-time and streamed, making it more accessible.
Discover more new stuff at these cultural festivals. Or find more theatre, here!
When: 12th – 16th October 2021
Where: Jacksons Lane, 269a Archway Road, London N6 5AA
£: Tickets cost £15 each. Buy tickets for two different shows and get 20% off or buy a festival pass for £50. Tickets for live streaming events are £5 each
More info: www.jacksonslane.org.uk