No Harlequin novel has ever become a classic, but millions of women throughout the world still read and write said genre. What is it that women fantasise about when they think about landowner Götz, architect Anton van der Buren, Count Vincenzo or Marquis Veryan? Their rock-hard pectorals, their gazes of steel? Love? Monogamy? Sex? Lust? Togetherness? A story with a happy ending? Why do we strive for love between two people?
From the world of Harlequins, Blaue Frau and ÖFA each create a performance, the Icelandic team interprets the theme visually, and these individual parts are combined during a week in Hanko. They think a story being bad is kinky, they get off on eroticism and romance, and they see Harlequins as potential self-help books.
Content warnings:
smoke
Finland-Swedish Blaue Frau has since its beginning in 2005 evolved from a raging revolt against prevailing gender norms in theatre to a performance group that questions hierarchies and traditions on a broader level within theatre and performance art. In Harlequin, performer Nina Matthis joins Blaue Frau as reinforcement.
The Swedish Amanda, Nadja and Lisen from the ÖFA collective have worked together since 2006. As a group, they have evolved into a strong, recurrent point in the cultural life of Sweden, and have even gained an international audience.
The Icelandic Selma, Gigja and Hallveig are young artists, feminists and visualists. Harlequin is their first mutual project.
With: Sonja Ahlfors, Joanna Wingren, Nina Matthis, Nadja Hjorton, Lisen Rosell, Amanda Apetrea
Light design: Mira Svanberg
Scenography: Hallveig Eiríksdóttir, Gígja Sara Björnsson, Selma Reynisdóttir & Tanja Lévy
Producer: Elina Tervonen
Production: Blaue Frau