Episode 921 - POPERA

[0:00] Þetta er RÚV English Radio með Darin Adam, [0:06] daglegu ensku langvarandi hlaðvarpsútvarpi frá Íslenska þjóðarbíóinu, RÚV. [0:30] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [1:00] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [1:30] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [2:00] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [2:30] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:00] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:30] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:32] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:34] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:36] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:38] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:40] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:42] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:44] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:46] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:48] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:50] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:52] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:54] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:56] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [3:58] Íslenski þjóðarbíó [4:00] A very queer attitude where everything transforms into each other; lights become stage design, [4:08] objects become both props and actors, dancers are both the design and the set and extra [4:15] characters in the play. Yeah, so everything morphs into each other. And well, being a werewolf is [4:20] about transformation, isn't it? [4:22] Oh, absolutely. It's quite the thing. So I come from [4:27] performance art, and since 2011 I've worked on a big project in which I travel with my [4:32] mother to 37 different cities. In that project, she is the character Stella, which she used to [4:37] do when she was a young it girl in Hamburg and Brazil, and I am the character Iridescence, which [4:43] was a long-haired kind of personality. I found out that this character now has this [4:51] kind of dark side where it grows facial hair and becomes a purple werewolf. So it's a [4:57] long story that is now fluorescent into this character. [5:04] Yes, let's dig into the music then a little bit. We've already talked about the sort of transformation and the musical [5:08] style, I guess, of the work that we're going to hear. The word popera suggests a mix of pop [5:15] and opera, but there's more going on than that, isn't there? [5:22] Ah, it was not my decision to call it popera. In my opinion, it's more like a musical action. [5:27] Yeah, and the musical is pop opera in a way, isn't it? It's really fluid, the boundaries between [5:33] all the genres, I will say. So yeah, I think it's really up to the audience how they want to [5:40] classify it in general. And more about the music, I think it's not really poppy. I tried my best to [5:47] make it really pop style, but it's still a lot of experimental music, not really obvious [5:54] sounds in general— a lot of sound design, really sub, and like a bass. [6:03] Fuzzy, I don't know, it's like really subwoofer music in general. Yeah, I will say. But still, [6:09] like it's a lot of electronic musicians right now that play more like sound design music. [6:15] We do this too; I use it. But still, it's a lot of melodies because we fall in love [6:21] with all sorts of melodies and so on. [6:27] It sounds like it's going to be quite an intense experience for the audience, not just with, you know, at least with the bass sort of pounding through them as well. [6:30] I think so. I think you're in for a ride when you come to see it, for sure. There's [6:34] a lot of elements that take you places, I think. Yeah, I think every meeting with the light [6:43] programmer was like more strobe, more, [6:47] and it's still not enough. It's still not enough. We want a rave! This is like [6:52] the purple werewolf is a club kid as well. Yeah, we want this to be a kind of rave popera. [6:57] Yeah, and you mentioned using everything that Charles Nabil has. Is this a good venue for something like this? [7:00] I think we use the utmost potential of the space. Yes, it’s just like a quite heavy place, let's say, because it's a black [7:11] box. And working with a black box, that's so specific. Yes, a warehouse would have been the optimal place [7:19] for sure. That really is the club kid kind of church; huge warehouse, huge sound system [7:27] and speakers. I know that you want to take this production to other places, so we can maybe get [7:30] into that as part of the conversation. But in terms of what this piece says, I think it's pretty obvious [7:36] that for queer people, not just in Iceland, but around the world, things are maybe more difficult [7:40] now than they were, say, five years ago. Is that message part of what this piece says? [7:47] The thing is that I grew up with a mother who was in many violent relationships, and [7:51] I had to witness a lot of violence on her behalf. The purple werewolf works [7:57] in women's liberation. So it's a lot about my personal story, having witnessed all this [8:05] violence and having wanted to be there for these women that were being beaten up by men that I [8:12] trusted and also loved. So it's about all these complex feelings of emotions—being witnessed, [8:18] wanting to change the past, not being able to, somehow trying to run away from your story, [8:24] but you're still trapped in your story. [8:27] On the other hand, my father is from Níger; I've seen him three times in my life, [8:32] and so this huge void of an absent father is something that sadly one continues to carry [8:40] with oneself. And in a way, for me, I think that was where really my creativity and my intense [8:48] imagination developed, just thinking about where this being would be or where that family is now. [8:56] Do you relate to the werewolf? Do you see yourself? [8:57] Absolutely. I've been shaving my whole life for one thing, right? Wanting to look like Janet Jackson but having this facial hair coming out [9:08] all the time. But, yeah, I think this thing of the problems with wanting to be one thing but then, [9:16] you know, like there's also a Christian doctrine that says that I don’t do what I want to do, [9:22] and I say what I don’t want to say. And it's absolutely true. [9:27] And I think this is a problem. I think when you're talking about a person, [9:33] being human, you're kind of in conflict—being human and not wanting to be and not being [9:38] what you want to be, not coming across the way you want to be. I think that is one of the bigger parts [9:44] of human nature—that you're not who you want to be, but you'll have to deal with that. [9:48] There are obviously very serious and deep themes here then, inevitably, from the background that you described, [9:51] but it's also fun, this piece, isn't it? We shouldn't scare people off. [9:56] Já, þetta er ekki bara eftir einhverju, eitthvað mjög, mjög, mjög nútímalegt og samtímalegt „fjárhætt“ [10:00] Við höfum svo miklu stóruð um Cinderella og einhverja aðra fjölmiðla, [10:07] en þetta er ekki bara eftir einhverju, heldur eitthvað mjög, mjög, mjög patriarkískt. [10:11] Hvað er það að kaupa, það er svo mikið fjármagn, og það er mjög sjálft, magnað— [10:16] þar er ekki mjög kvæðamennska og svo meðan einhver [10:21] dúknum er í raunveruleikanum, [10:28] Ég þarf ekki að láta langa skemmtun, já, það er eitthvað dómblakur, [10:34] og svo hlutlega. [10:39] Það er náttúrulega geirinn síðann, [10:47] ekki bara að berja, þar séum við að tala um þetta. [10:50] Og ástir til þín, allir þurfa, [10:54] jólkspíshart þurfa, [10:55] að koma og aðeins hafa stjórn [10:57] með ljóðum sem hérna þeir hefðu að fjöla þetta pláneti. [11:01] Það kemur. [11:01] Það er það. [11:02] Og þá ekki, Pöfvurhváðið [11:04] þarf að runa er containers [11:05] frá þessu milli á milli, [11:06] hægt hérna er að skilja það. [11:07] Það er... [11:08] Það er grunnskála, þeirri Těrnir. [11:11] Naður, þar finnstur þúfæðin meðan það er þau á ístæðu, og premjér þúfæðin er ístæðu. [11:16] Hvað er það að beina þaví að það er því að það er að það er? [11:21] Ég þannig að það er að ístæðu þau að það er þið að við sem séða það að við, [11:29] og þannig að stæða í maður þess að það er mæsaði. [11:32] Ég finn að það er mæja, og það er umfengur þessum að verða takkum. [11:37] A great deal of people to have, and then of course I think one part of when we talk about fairy tales, [11:43] we often have this very strong moral message or something. And in a way, we are trying to refrain from that [11:49] like there are a lot of messages in there and you can unpack it all you want, but we don't want to end with this [11:53] like you have to live like this or this is the right way to do things. [11:57] Having not seen the piece because we're talking on the day of the final rehearsal, [12:04] and maybe this only springs to my mind because of the sad death of Tim Curry in the last couple of days, [12:09] but I wonder if The Rocky Horror Picture Show, its energy, its vibe, in any way [12:13] was an influence, consciously or otherwise, on this? [12:22] Honestly, it wasn't, but it's definitely in that kind of spirit of the great, great, great Rocky Horror Show for sure. [12:27] Absolutely, but also Disney, you know, it's also My Little Pony, it's also He-Man. [12:33] Yeah, yeah. [12:27] It's also like all the incredible 90s music and the crop tops and the pumping and dancing, [12:39] and just, you know, getting dressed to sweat all night and, you know, come home and look like an absolute [12:43] something that's been in a sauna, you know, for hours. [12:45] Sounds like the audience will see this and come out and think, [12:52] "I've just had so many different experiences and references over the course of the last couple of hours," or whatever. [12:55] What I expect is just to try to inspire people. [12:57] I think that's really [13:01] we all have our own life circumstances. [13:02] Yeah. [13:03] And sometimes it's really good, but sometimes shit happens and this is part of life. [13:06] But the bands of the people, how they can go through this [13:10] so you can be a little bit more sarcastic [13:13] because it helps go through all the adventures in your life and so on and so on. [13:19] So I think the most important thing is actually it's a gift to people—energy, power, and inspiration—just to live that life [13:27] the best way or the worst, it depends, and it's still the best. [13:32] I mean, that's anyway really important. [13:34] And on that second performance, do we know which dates it might happen on? [13:40] It will be the 17th or 18th; we still don't know. [13:43] 18th. [13:44] You've decided. [13:44] It is officially the 18th, but we would like to have it on the 17th, but it's the 18th. [13:51] Okay. [13:51] That sounds like an editorial decision that was made right here on this floor just now. [13:56] No, it's not. [13:56] It's not. [13:57] It's not. [13:57] It's not. [13:57] No, no, no, no, no, it's the director. [13:58] We're trying to make one of the dancers able to be in the piece on the 17th. [14:01] I see, okay. [14:01] So it's a practical thing. [14:03] But it's also about, you know, bringing back the true powers of fairytales. [14:08] You know, the fairytales have been hacked by industries such as Disney and, you know, DreamWorks. [14:13] Norse myths as well have also been subject to the same sort of process, [14:17] but they used to be really functional big stories that helped us to kind of stay on the straight and narrow. [14:22] Yeah. [14:22] So I think that's also a very interesting thing of like how do you awaken the fairytale [14:27] of your own life. [14:28] And I know, as we said, that you want this to play in other places. [14:33] We had a conversation before switching on the microphone about the expense of bringing this to the Edinburgh Festival, for example, [14:38] because it's just expensive to do that. [14:41] And I mention that because it's just finished, of course, in the UK. [14:44] You do want to bring this to other places, though, if you can. [14:46] If we can, yes. [14:48] But it would probably be like a smaller version of it. [14:50] And I think what helped me with the dramaturgy of this performance was seeing what they did in Itna [14:56] before. [14:57] They did this kind of stripped-down version in Itna with a brass ensemble. [15:01] But it was just Michael on stage, and it worked. [15:04] And I think Michael and his purple werewolf character, just on his own, it works. [15:09] So I think we want to see if we can, I mean, we add some elements, of course, in the stage design or whatever, [15:14] because we want to see if we can go on tour with a very limited setup. [15:19] But I would say it would be wonderful to have a huge budget, [15:22] you know, to make it really, really bigger. [15:26] Yeah, because... [15:26] We can't do this a little bit limited right now, [15:29] but we can do this bigger and more fantastic, [15:31] just like always about the budget. [15:33] And by the way, I just want to really quickly say [15:35] thank you so much, Rúf, [15:37] because actually I did electronic version music [15:40] because of the Rúf and Steph collaboration. [15:43] Give me a grant for this. [15:44] Yeah, thank you so much. [15:46] Well, another way to get the budget you need, of course, is to get a full house tomorrow night, I guess. [15:50] Yes, exactly. [15:51] Please come to the show. [15:53] Fingers crossed. [15:54] Fingers crossed on all of that. [15:56] And plans then for the four of you, I guess, beyond this show? [16:02] Do you have other creative ideas? [16:05] I mean, we do have the Catwalk Collective as well, [16:08] which is something we started, I think, last year. [16:11] Tell me about that. [16:12] It's a collective of models, or it's performers acting as models, [16:17] and we are kind of researching what it means to be a model, [16:20] what it means to use your body almost as an object to sell clothes, [16:25] and how this... [16:26] Like, can this be a feminist practice or not? [16:29] That's kind of the question we are asking in this whole research project. [16:32] And we do different performances. [16:34] We did one performance in the world-class gym, just right here at Belgar, [16:38] where we were, like, working out and modeling at the same time, [16:42] kind of playing with how the body is labor as well. [16:47] And modeling is kind of a weird construction of the body. [16:51] I can add, because I'm in this project, I'm a costume designer, [16:56] like a clothes designer, suddenly, [16:58] and I make for this performance, like, latex clothes [17:02] which looks like post-apocalyptic clothes, second skin, something like this. [17:06] But in general, I can add just it's really about the criticism of this fashion industry in general. [17:14] It's really huge, and it's, like, one of the biggest reasons why, like, climate changes and so on, so on. [17:23] So it's a lot about, again, all sorts of... [17:26] Conceptual, but still it's very interesting how to, like, work with it, [17:31] like, with the fashion, like, in the era of contemporary art. [17:35] I have something to add there. [17:37] If you thought we couldn't do more with Pappara, it's actually also a fashion show. [17:41] Diana made all the costumes herself. [17:44] Not all. [17:45] Almost all the costumes. [17:47] And there is a catwalk moment. [17:50] Okay, so, I mean, this is hitting lots of artistic marks then. [17:53] It's music, it's fashion, it's a story. [17:56] It's a story as well, it's a narrative. [17:58] And it's choreography. [17:58] And there's definitely dance, yes. [18:01] And that's what I hope the audience takes with… [18:03] is that they can see the blend of all these things together. [18:06] Well, let's talk about the dance then, side of this [18:09] and the choreography side of this, [18:10] because that's an important element too, isn't it? [18:12] This is not just a play, it's not just a musical, [18:15] it's not just an opera. [18:16] There is almost something balletic maybe going on there too? [18:20] Well, actually, yes. [18:20] Because we have Michael, who has a dance background, [18:23] and we're kind of pulling that out as well. [18:26] We have dancers on stage, [18:27] so there are definitely some ballet references that will be visible. [18:31] Fantastic. [18:32] And I remember it's like a Beyoncé stuff. [18:36] Yeah, some Beyoncé references. [18:38] Some nice hip movements come through as well. [18:41] Fantastic. [18:42] It sounds like the audience is going to get its money's worth then, [18:44] with everything we're going to see tomorrow night. [18:46] Best of luck to the four of you with this show [18:50] and of course the next show as well [18:51] and your continued endeavors. [18:53] We're going to put a link up to this show [18:55] on the page of the show, [18:56] and we'll see you in the premiere. [19:03] Tomorrow. [19:03] Tjarnabíll is the place to be. [19:07] This... [19:07] I'm scared now. [19:08] This is Rúf English Radio. [19:09] My name is Darren Adam, [19:10] and you can get in touch with us anytime. [19:11] We're English [19:12] at ruv.is. [19:14] There is more from Rúf English [19:20] with all the news from Iceland [19:21] in English [19:22] at ruv.is [19:24] slash [19:25] English. [19:25] Rúf English. [19:26] Rúf English Radio [19:27] is a daily English-language radio [19:29] from Iceland's national broadcaster, [19:32] Rúf.