Theatre
The theatre in Denmark continues to thrive thanks to the many theatres in Copenhagen and across the country which put on a wide variety of Danish and foreign performances. The flagship Royal Danish Theatre presents drama, opera, ballet and music. Since the 18th century, Danish playwrights have been successful in attracting wide public interest.
Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) is considered by many to be the founder of the Danish theatre. Satirical comedies such as Jean de France and Jeppe of the Hill are still performed today.
Adam Oehlenschläger (1779–1850) introduced romanticism to the Danish theatre. Especially successful was his Earl Hakon the Mighty, premiered in 1808.
The Norwegian Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) also travelled to Copenhagen where he produced numerous plays such as A Doll’s House (1879).
In recent years, there has been something of a revival in Danish theatre. Many new playwrights and producers have appeared including Astrid Saalbach (b.1955), winner of the Nordic Drama Award in 2004, and Peter Asmussen (b.1957), who wrote the film script for Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves. Danish musicals have also been a particularly successful feature of the modern theatre. Knud Christensen, commonly known as Sebastian, was particularly successful with Cyrano (1992), based on Rostand’s play and Klokkeren fra Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) (2001). Bent Fabricius-Bjerre's musical Matador (2007) is based on a successful TV series of the same name.
Another popular Danish theatrical tradition is the revue which has been thriving since the mid 19th century. Today revues are performed every summer to full houses in theatres across Denmark, poking fun at the politics of the day and even the monarchy. Among the most popular are Circusrevyen in Copenhagen with Lisbet Dahl, and the Nykøbing Revy directed by Flemming Krøll in Nykøbing Falster.
Finally, Danish television has also contributed to drama with a number of successful series since the 1970s. Perhaps the most notable successes have been the two series of Forbrydelsen (The Killing), both of which attracted over 30% audience share in Denmark when broadcast and have been widely sold around the world.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Denmark, Performing Arts
Famous quotes containing the word theatre:
“Glorious bouquets and storms of applause ... are the trimmings which every artist naturally enjoys. But to move an audience in such a role, to hear in the applause that unmistakable note which breaks through good theatre manners and comes from the heart, is to feel that you have won through to life itself. Such pleasure does not vanish with the fall of the curtain, but becomes part of one’s own life.”
—Dame Alice Markova (b. 1910)
“I think theatre should always be somewhat suspect.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“People fall out of windows, trees tumble down,
Summer is changed to winter, the young grow old
The air is full of children, statues, roofs
And snow. The theatre is spinning round,
Colliding with deaf-mute churches and optical trains.
The most massive sopranos are singing songs of scales.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)