Theatre Får302 — the Smallest Intimate Stage of Copenhagen (part 1)

It broke away from the flock,
And bumped into nine actors.
It gazed in wonder,
While standing in the way they were heading for.

“It is also androgynous,”
Kindly informed the shepherd,
And the 302nd of the herd was it called.

What an absurd creature, they thought,
Just like those in their plays,
With a sense of humor, and a blend of intrigue,
For the meanings of this meaningless world…

In the summer of 1987,
It broke away from the flock,
And became the name of their theatre.

The nine co-founders of Theatre Får302 are Michel Castenholt, Lars Brygmann, Niels Vendius, Jesper Hildebrandt, Charlotte Bostrup, Tine Brix Davidsen, Louise Søeborg Ohlsen, Methe Bendix, Charlotte Elizabeth Munksgaard.  © tantanyy.com

Theatre Får302 — the Smallest Intimate Stage of Copenhagen

By Tan Shuo

⇒中文版

1

“It is a gift…” Charlotte Elizabeth Munksgaard recalls her memories of the year 2001. Her voice, a typical mezzo, is soothing and warm.

Charlotte Elizabeth Munksgaard. © tantanyy.com

In 2001 – fourteen years after they founded Theatre Får302 (“Sheep 302” in English), Charlotte Elizabeth and her eight fellowswere standing at a career crossroads: Lars Brygmann was rising to stardom after being cast in a number of films. Louise Søeborg Ohlsen had devoted more of his time to educational work. Methe Bendix aspired to children’s theater. Charlotte Bostrup was planning for a new feature film and had staked her future on being a director…

The ensemble of nine was formed more than just on colleagueship. Dating back to the 1980s, they had been classmates and spent four years together (some of them five years) studying Stanislavski’s method with Galina Brenaa, then a Russian theatre director in Denmark. Ironically, it was Brenaa’s Tsar-like teaching style that finally had her overthrown by the pupils. “I remember the last day when the teacher went out of the door, we didn’t stop her. We were so happy that she went away,” Charlotte Elizabeth says. Soon after, the group of nine started their own ensemble and made a theatre experiment in front six audiences, disregarding all the tough disciplines their teacher had imposed, and turning themselves extremely wild like “an explosion of what had been kept inside”.

In other words, the nine co-founders of Theatre Får302 saw each other growing up as true actor, and to a large extent, it was their fellowship and shared belief in acting that had bound them for over a decade after graduation. They enjoyed working in solidarity in spite of low funding that threatened their existence.

“We cannot afford more people on the stage than four. That’s usually the limit,” tells Charlotte Elizabeth, and even today,2 their stringent financial circumstances have yet to be improved. Cast members are still required to take on multiple roles whenever necessary. “And sometimes just simply by putting on a pair of glasses, we turn into another character.”

It sounds funny though, the reality behind was far less than content. From the beginning years, everyone in the ensemble had to rely on other jobs to maintain livelihoods, including Charlotte Elizabeth, who also accepted roles in films and TV series. “I earn much more money in film and television (than in theatre),” she tells, “but for film, you have so little rehearsal time – unless you are the main role…What I like theatre is that we can rehearse together. There is so much togetherness – finding something and developing together.”

The spirit of togetherness or solidarity was their cherished value, but it started to wane in the 1990s as most of them developed broader interests in other kinds of work they held in this field. And by early 2001, the burden of the responsibilities for their own “Sheep” had become a hindrance to going on to big careers.

Theatre Får302, “the smallest intimate stage of Copenhagen (Københavns mindste intimscene)”3 with a capacity of 48, was facing closure…

Theatre Får302 is located in the area of Nyhavn (New Port), one of the top tourist attractions in Copenhagen.  © tantanyy.com

While her fully-fledged fellows were launching themselves into the outer world, Charlotte Elizabeth dug her heels in. “I still felt we had to hold on to this pearl. It is a gift we have this little theatre in the middle of Copenhagen. I didn’t want to give it up.”

She might have regretted seeing others leaving one by one and might have had second thoughts afterward, but she also remembered how happy they were when running a charity auction at the Louisiana Museum for their newly-born “Sheep”, and how serious they were when placing all the money they earned – whether big or small – into a box so as to pay off a two-room apartment as their base for rehearsal.4 Despite three decades have passed, she is still proud of their teamwork in the opening season to promote the ads space of their program brochure. “We went out into the streets and knocked upon the doors of different shops…We asked if they wanted to advertise in our program,” says Charlotte Elizabeth, “Also, by making phone calls.” It was utterly a fight for survival, for they, as an actors’ theatre ensemble, would never have a chance to be subsidized unless they could offer something significant on the stage.

Thanks to a couple of shoe shops, wineries, cafés, and aptly, an insecticide company, the very first play of Theatre Får302 – a revival of Steven Berkoff’s modern adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis – was staged.

Steven Berkoff’s Metamorphosis (1988) is the first production of Theatre Får302.

Dealing with a “strangely beautiful, frightening and, of course, surreal”5 family story, Metamorphosis was considered one of the most acclaimed plays written by the English playwright and actor. Though Berkoff himself was not engaged in the production of Theatre Får302, the rendition by the ensemble of nine in the spring of 1988 in Copenhagen did make an impact on Danish theatre. Positive reviews from the critics drew the attention of the Danish Arts Council, and since then, Theatre Får302 has become eligible to apply for financial support from the state.


© TANTANYY
For Audiences, Artists, and Theatres


Related Articles:

Theatre Får302 — the Smallest Intimate Stage of Copenhagen (part 2)

Theatre Får302 — the Smallest Intimate Stage of Copenhagen (part 3)

Theatre Får302 — the Smallest Intimate Stage of Copenhagen (part 4)

Birgitte Hesselaa Talks About the Breakthrough in Modern Danish Drama


Notes and references:

1. The nine co-founders of Theatre Får302 are Michel Castenholt, Lars Brygmann, Niels Vendius, Jesper Hildebrandt, Charlotte Bostrup, Tine Brix Davidsen, Louise Søeborg Ohlsen, Methe Bendix, Charlotte Elizabeth Munksgaard.

2. Charlotte Elizabeth managed to invite actress Birgitte Prins and actor Pauli Ryberg (†2017) to join the artistic board in late 2001 and they three formed a new ensemble of Theatre Får302 which is still active today.

3. Online Text. Retrieved from DANSK FILM OG TEATER, danskfilmogteater.dk/teatre/far_302.htm. Accessed 7 Mar. 2018.

4. The two-room apartment, about 50 square meters in size, was bought by the ensemble in 1987 for rehearsal use, and it did not become the permanent venue of Theatre Får302 until the late 1990s.

5. Berkoff, Steven. “My ‘Metamorphosis’.” The Independent, 1 Aug. 1999, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/my-metamorphosis-1110231.html. Accessed 7 Mar. 2018.


The series of articles is fulfilled with the support from Danish Arts Foundation and Theatre Får302. 

    

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