Punch Lines out of Everyday Life

Thor Bjørn Krebs had his breakthrough as a playwright – and debut as a director in 2000 with Kunsten at vedligeholde en far [The Art of Maintaining a Father], which was awarded the Nat&Dag Copenhagen Prize for best play of the year.  In 2004, Krebs was nominated for the prestigious Reumert Award for his documentary drama Om Tommy [All About Tommy] and the political revue Europamestrene [The European Champions].

Praise has rained down on this young playwright ever since the opening line in his first middle-class drama. Krebs is the new advocate for a political and moral theatre that grapples with contemporary issues. He goes his own way, avoids dramatic clichés, and critiques the hypocrisy of the ‘60s generation. 

Our struggle with ourselves and against the all too imposing global world is central. Through hyper-realistic dialogue and awkward pauses, he portrays the clashes between dysfunctional family members – which also gives rise to absurdist comedy. 

Kreb’s theatre strikes at the heart of today’s generational conflicts. Not only in Denmark does this documentary style resonate with audiences. Kreb’s award-winning plays have been published and will be performed in several Scandinavian languages – and, soon, in German and English. 

Current Productions

HVIS / IF
(2005)
What if your mother was in a permanent coma for the annual family luncheon. And if you tried to keep up the tradition anyway? What would you do then? And how would you react if all the other members of the family tried to tackle the problem, each in their own way? No one who has a family can get around this highly-acclaimed social-realist drama from 2005.

Reviews Extracts

”Thor Bjørn Krebs is a dramatic multi-talent. The year before last, we were shocked by his empathy with the experiences of Danish soldiers in former Yugoslavia in Om Tommy. Last year, we nearly died laughing at ourselves as a bungling nation in Europamestrene. And now we can grieve and rejoice over his amazing death farce HVIS.”
Information (DK), HVIS

”So, go to Kanonhallen and see the new play by dramatist Thor Bjørn Krebs, who can write lines right out of everyday life – in the summer house, in the laundromat, in the Danish brigade in former Yugoslavia, in bed, at the breakfast table – but what about the point?  He’s got that, too.  He is not an absurdist – life and the lines are already too absurd to begin with.”
Politiken (DK), HVIS

”It begins this way: If this were  Hollywood, say the two characters standing on the empty stage in their jeans and hooded jerseys, the camera would pan out over the wide expanses. … We know the film cliché and can see it all with our inner eye for free, but I’ll be darned if our external eye doesn’t immediately see Mungo Park come dangling straight down from the stage ceiling!  This prelude is a coup, the key to the whole performance’s firm and subtle game with the viewer’s dual consciousness of time and place.”
Politiken (DK), Mungo Park – manden bag navnet

International Cooporation
Sweden, Columbine Forlag, agent: Berit Gullberg, www.colombine.se
Germany, Henschel Verlag,  Berlin. Contact: Frank Kroll. www.henschel-theater.de
England, The Agency, London, Contact: Nick Quinn. www.theagency.co.uk