Art Being Consumed At The Grapevine Office This Week

We’d be preaching from an ivory tower if we didn’t have boots on the ground, ingesting and processing the cultural events we love to tell you about. This week, we’ve got two theatre and one concert review in stock.

For aspiring theatre-lovers, life is difficult. As in, if you’re not ready to commit a sizable portion of your income towards theatre tickets, you’re not becoming one. Luckily, I managed to score comp tickets to Mergur, which premiered in Tjarnarbíó in early February.

Mergur (Marrow) is the first professional staging of Katrín Lóa Hafsteinsdóttir, whose original script originated during her thesis work at the Iceland University of the Arts. Shown at Tjarnarbíó, the play has shown evident success as it has outperformed its original schedule of two nights, now staged on a demand-basis.

Farts, poop, haemorrhoids, and all things bodily fluids mixed with self-deprecation are the subject matter of this play — which verges on simply being a choir concert, albeit with extra steps. No central characters or plot drive the show, whose main focus are the comically grotesque lyrics sung to music influenced by Iceland’s choral tradition.

The choir, whose members enter the stage one by one in a drawn-out manner for comedic effect, is a 20-strong group of various Reykjavík thespians, all trained and fully equipped for the ensuing silliness.

What Mergur does to disqualify itself as a choir concert is by introducing movement. The organised rows of singers are quickly transformed into long rows of barking and meowing performers, who then scale up the staircases on either side of the seats for a performance.

This movement adds much-needed excitement to the performance, as the allure of the contrast between menstrual blood-themed lyrics and serious traditional music wears off soon. Needless to say, Icelandic skills are necessary to get the jokes, but the music will stay with you long into the week. If you’re intrigued, you can still get tickets to Mergur’s March performances. JB

The stage of Tjarnarbíó is covered in water. The water is bubbling. I sit far enough back that I can’t quite see where it’s going. Is it dripping onto the audience in the first row? Will the theatre soak through? These questions run through my mind during the first few minutes of Sérstæðan, one of the most exciting shows currently on in local theatres.

This week, I could write about a lifeless, horny, utterly boring Wuthering Heights with an unlimited budget (someone said it might as well have been a Charli XCX music video, and I stand by that), but watching a small production company bring a 7×8 metre pool, foam/fog/rain/you name it machines to a local theatre, and use every single plug and extension cord available at Tjárnarbíó to stage Sérstæðan, I simply couldn’t pass it by.

Part dance show, part staged concert, part visual art performance, Sérstæðan, directed by Rósa Ómarsdóttir, is a technical phenomenon rarely, if ever, seen in our theatres before. At the centre of this show is an “alien” (there’s been a lot of talk about aliens in the media this past week, a coincidence?) — a nameless future being that loses its physical form and continues to exist only in the digital realm.

For a significant portion of the show, there’s no performer on stage — just water taking many shapes, from foam (have you ever seen a stage of Tjarnarbíó be completely cover in a thick layer of foam?!) to rain; light (kudos to the lightning designers — it was a feast for the eyes) shifting from bright white to acid green; thick smoke covering the stage; and digital projections that literally take over the room and its walls. The show activates all the senses and makes your mind wander as you try to imagine the “bodyless” future.

The show shifts from cyberpunk surrealism to what is essentially a rave (a short, few-minute-long one as such), thanks to the amazing music by Sveinbjörn Thorarensen aka Hermigervill who can be spotted in the technical booth. Some sections feel slightly too long, albeit the culmination comes with the “future being” appearing on stage in a mesmerising see-through dress, accompanied by — spoiler — a group of completely naked people.

A man behind me lets out a loud giggle, and even though it’s completely dark, I imagine him turning red.

Perhaps there exists a future where technology grows beyond human control — but while humans on Earth are making things like this, I think we’re safe. There’s only one show left on February 26, and I honestly encourage you to go see it. IZ

Two rows of seats were set up in the round, circling the three-piece setup of the band Spouses. This past weekend, I attended “Jazz Sunday” in Iðnó, which — to be fair — took a brief break from their “jazz” label for this edition. Spouses promises a “folk rebirth,” and is the project of Canadian-born, Iceland-based Joel Durksen.

Joel moved to Iceland in 2023, and this Sunday evening marked his first performance ever in Iceland. Posting a video promoting the concert by sitting in an ice bath while speaking Icelandic, Joel was certainly all in for this show. Joined by musicians Reynir Snær and Bergur Einar, alongside some vocals from his partner Kristrún, they performed Spouses’ upcoming I Could Be Your Dog, which is slated for release on May 22.

Joel and Kristrún live on a horse-breeding farm, where he is converting a stable into a recording studio to make Kálfholt Studios, which is curiosity-piquing on its own, but his music immediately drew us all in further.

Raw and endearing, the trio performed songs that ranged from tender to pleading, as Joel’s gripping vocals and evocative lyrics told story after story. The unreleased songs he performed, such as “Fish Hook,” just left me ready for the album to come out. Right before the end, he covered Sigur Rós & Steindór Anderson’s “Á ferð til Breiðarfjarðar 1922” from 2001, transfixing the room.

If you’re in Liverpool tonight, today is your lucky day — you can catch Spouses performing at the Kaz Stockroom… But, chances are, you’re probably not. In place of seeing Spouses live in Liverpool, you can listen to the recently released second single from I Could Be Your Dog: “Choke.” The song is layered and nuanced, but was recorded with “just a few mics and a tiny electric keyboard made for kids.” In my opinion, I think you should keep your eyes open and make sure you don’t miss when Joel gives his second-ever performance in Iceland. ISH

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