An Explosive, Political Lone Wolf in Danish Theatre

Since its establishment in the 1980s, Mammutteatret’s philosophy has been that the theatre should be managed by actors. Today, Tina Gylling Mortensen (actor, b. 1956) and Claus Flygare (actor and director, b. 1945), who have been with it from the start, head the theatre together with Thomas Bendixen (actor and director, b. 1966) and Kari Vidø (dramatist and director, b. 1961).

Artistic Profile
Mammutteatret has a special place in Danish theatre.  Since its premiere of Brecht’s BAAL in 1983, Mammut has set the standard for relevant, theatrical stage language.  It has revolted against visionless habitual thinking in the theatre world and, instead, put an actor-run Artistic Theatre at the centre.  Major original stories put people as feeling, thinking social creatures at the centre.  In particular, Mammutteatret grapples with current political issues, whether it uses as its source classical German or Russian texts (Wedekind, Fassbinder, Gorki, Bulgakov) or young Danish dramatists (Nicolas Bro, Jan Sonnergaard). Its ethical-political impact combined with a high artistic level has won a large audience for the theatre and forged a creative gathering place, where young talent and experienced forces can meet in a productive collaboration.  Many young talents – actors as well as directors – have come out of Mammutteatret.

Mammut performances are generally known for excellent acting and intense scenographic landscapes.  This close contact to the audience as well as contemporary events could, for example, be seen in the fall of 2005: While there was still unrest on the streets of Paris, the theatre had open readings of Swedish dramatist Lucas Svensson’s documentary piece Le week-end – Optøjer i Paris [Le week-end – Riots in Paris] – a play that dealt with the current unrest in France’s immigrant milieu.  The theatre was able to translate political issues into theatre, while they were still playing out on the world stage.

Mammutteatret is a “theatre nomad” with no permanent home. It rather roams between theatre spaces and, for example, abandoned factory halls.

Current Production
All performances are in Danish and can be subtitled in English.

Grace Was Here
(2007)
No premiere date yet.
New experimental drama that evokes the intellectual universe of Lars von Trier’s film Dogville. Taking its starting point in characters and situations from the original film script, the production explores whether good intentions are a gift of grace or a curse that can lead to the destruction of a culture.  A performance in which one of Denmark’s major, new dramatists, Christian Lollike, ruminates on the film’s fundamental themes and provides the original, allegorical scenes concrete political content.

Liv og død på Café Olfert Fisher / Life and Death at Café Olfert Fisher
(2006)
Kaleidoscop K2
Premiere of a new play by the Danish writer Jan Sonnergaard.

Ikke om nattergale / Not About Nightingales
(2006)
Tennessee William’s early work Not About Nightingales (1938-39) was first performed in 1998 at The National Theatre in London. The play is based on actual events at an American prison, where the prison warden tortured four prisoners to death.  The escalation of the conflict in the prison is traced in short montages of scenes, until the warden loses his grip on the situation and tragedy results.

Stolthed er kolossal / Pride is Colossal
(2005)
Fiction and reality go hand in hand in this fast-paced performance by young Danish dramatist Nikolas Bro, who with skewering commentary takes the pulse of our way of life and the theatre.  The performance tells the story of an uncompromising theatre director, Liva Jerndorff, who runs an underground theatre in the midst of a bloody war.  As she meets the play’s other characters, Liva is confronted with other ideologies than her own.

Review Extracts

“In Ulla Gottlieb’s thoroughly realistic direction and in Edward Lloyd Pierce’s tooth-grindingly eerie set design with a cell and an office level, the tension remains constantly high.”
Weekendavisen, Ikke om nattergale

”Moving and revoltingly funny theatrical detonation at Mammutteatret… The Mammuts each play their desperado role to the hilt.”
Information (DK), Stolthed er kolossal

”Stingingly funny comedy about the powerlessness of theatre and human longing”.
Jyllands-Posten (DK), Stolthed er kolossal

International Tours
Mammutteatret has toured northern Europe (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) but has toured surprisingly little in the rest of Europe, due to an often text-based repertoire requiring many players. However, at the moment, the theatre is working to make its repertoire more tour-friendly.