Vesturport is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

group, founded on 18 August 2001. The group has performed plays in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 2011, it received the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities for its complete work, innovative character and originality.

Overview

On the day that the theatre group was founded, the play ''Discopigs'' was performed in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. Over the next three years the group performed the plays ''Key around the neck'', ''Titus'' and ''Mr. Man''. Its first performance outside of Iceland was ''Romeo and Juliet'', on 18 November 2004 in Playhouse Theatre, London. Romeo and Juliet was subsequently shown in Germany, Poland, Norway and Finland. In 2004 the group premiered the Icelandic play ''Brim'' and it received the Icelandic Gríman award for the best theatre script. On 30 April 2004 the group premiered the first theatre play of

Víkingur Kristjánsson Víkingur Kristjánsson (born 26 March 1972) is an Icelandic actor and screenwriter. He is known for '' Trapped'', '' The Valhalla Murders'', '' Vegferð'', ''Réttur'' and ''Ríkið''. He was one of the founders of the theatre group Vesturpor ...

, ''Shopping mall shattered''. In 2008 the group premiered the plays ''Together'' and ''Love'' in

Reykjavík City Theatre The Reykjavík City Theatre (RCT) ( is, Borgarleikhúsið ) is a theatre in Reykjavík, Iceland. History In 1989, after ninety years of performing in a small wooden building in the city centre, the company inaugurated a new theatre building ad ...

and ''Dubbeldelush'' in Akureyri Theatre. On 15 October the group premiered the play ''Woyzeck'' in the Howard Gilman Opera House in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. A year later the group premiered the play ''Metamorphosis'' in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

in a collaboration with

Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

. The group then collaborated with

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

and

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

to compose music for the play Faust, with planned performances in Berlin, Hamburg and London. In 2010 the group received favorable criticism from the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

for the play ''Metamorphosis'', which increased the popularity of the group. A year later the group started collaborating with Tony-award winner

Robin de Levita Robin de Levita (born April 19, 1959) is a Dutch theatre- and television producer, who produced shows on Broadway and West End and won several Tony Awards. Career De Levita produced over a hundred television programs for Dutch media tycoon Joop ...

on ''Metamorphosis'', ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'', ''Loce the Musical'', The Brothers Karamazov, and Mad Alice, with planned performances in the United States. In the same year, the group received the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities for innovative character and originality.

References

{{reflist 2001 establishments in Iceland Theatre in Iceland Culture in Reykjavík Organizations based in Reykjavík

Overview

See also

References