Den Stora Elden

Den Stora Elden
Picture: Jonatan Sundström

DEN STORA ELDEN
PREMIERE 14.9.2018

The performance is Swedish-speaking and subtitled to English and Finnish to the mobile application THEA. Read more about the subtitles here.

On September 14th, 2018 Roland Schimmelpfenning’s play Den Stora Elden (Das Grosse Feuer, The Great Fire) premiered at Teater Viirus. Schimmelpfenning is known to Finnish audiences through play’s such as Peggy Pickit sees the face of God. Den Stora Elden had its world premiere in January 2017 at Staatstheater Mannheim.

Den Stora Elden is a modern fable about two villages in a valley next to a river. One side of the valley grows grapes for wine and on the other oxen, cows, horses and sheep graze. Summer brings heat waves, drought, storm and rain. But only the village on one side is affected by flooding, death and disease. The teacher wonders “How can this be?” “This summer nothing is divided equally”. While one side bury their dead, the miller on the other side transforms his mill into a resort for partying tourists. When a great fire completely burns down the affected village the survivors board a boat and try to get to the other side – but by now the river has grown and might as well be an ocean.

Den Stora Elden is a sharp social critique of how our world works today. Schimmelpfenning has since the early 2000 made himself known for plays that look at contemporary human identities and relations put into a global economical and ecological context. Schimmelpfenning tells an archaic story with biblical motifs describing in a poetic way how friends become enemies, how natural disaster divides the world into rich and poor and how injustice is born and affects people’s lives.

Directing the play is Anders Carlsson, professor of the Swedish speaking acting program at the Theater Academy, and on stage we see the theater’s own ensemble, Maria Ahlroth, Martin Bahne, Iida Kuningas, Oskar Pöysti and Jessica Raita.

Viirus’ theatre hall has been divided by a screen that separates the audience from the actors. Through a camera lens the audience is transported up close to all the details of the miniature world all the while their bodies remain at a cold distance from what’s happening on stage. What happens to your ability to empathize and think critically when the distance grows large enough?

Performance rights S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; © 2016
Performance rights Agency North / Colombine Teaterförlag

Text Roland Schimmelpfennig
Translation Ulf Peter Hallberg
Director Anders Carlsson
On Stage Maria Ahlroth, Martin Bahne, Iida Kuningas, Oskar Pöysti, Jessica Raita
Concept planning Maria Lundström
Scenography and Costume Janne Vasama
Mask Riikka Virtanen, Eija Kuokkanen
Sound Design Ville Kabrell
Light Design Lauri Lundahl
Videoplanning Jonatan Sundström
Translation Ulf Peter Hallberg
Camera operators Colin Thaa, Jodie Sinclair