Theatre Group PóliS
Theatre Group PóliS is a Polis-Icelandic theater group that produces work to bring together Polish and Icelandic-speakers in Iceland. Polish people are the largest group of immigrants living in Iceland at around 20.000 people. Yet there is hardly any Polish-speaking theatre available in Iceland, and almost no Polish people working in Icelandic Theatres. Theatre Group PóliS’s aim is to make the theater environment in Iceland more diverse, highlighting in a light-hearted way the personal stories of all the people that have come to Iceland from Poland as immigrants.
PóliS has produced two theatre plays, Co za poroniony pomysł in Tjarnarbíó Theatre in 2020, and Tu jest za drogo! in Reykjavik City Theatre in 2022.
Co za poroniony pomysł won the Icelandic Theater Awards Gríman in 2021, and the jury had this to say about the performance: „Co za poroniony pomysł is a work that lives with you long after it ends. The theater group dives into two cultures and intertwines them, resulting in an evening where artists and audiences of Icelandic and Polish origin harmonize across origin and cultures.“
Co-created by Theater Group PóliS: Aleksandra Skołozynska, Ólafur Ásgeirsson, Jakub Ziemann, Salvör Gullbrá Þórarinsdóttir
Actors: Jakub Ziemann, Aleksandra Skołożyńska, Ólafur Ásgeirsson
Director: Salvör Gullbrá Þórarinsdóttir
Dramaturg: Birnir Jón Sigurðsson
Scenography and costumes: Þórdís Erla Zoëga
Music: Kristinn Smári Kristinsson
Lighting Design: Kjartan Darri Kristjánsson
Graphic Design: Gréta Þorkelsdóttir
Tu jest za drogo! brought a lot of Polish and Icelandic audience to the theatre, and Icelandic critics had this to say about the play:
"A refreshing evening where we[Icelandic people] are decentered, our innermost identity is poked, bubbles are burst, and we are forced to confront how lame we can sometimes be” - Nína Hjálmarsdóttir, Víðsjá.
Actors: Aleksandra Skolozynska, Jakub Ziemann, Ólafur Ásgeirsson, Sylwia Zajkowska and Andrés Pétur Þorvarðarson
Script: Ólafur Ásgeirsson,Aleksandra Skolozynska, Jakub Ziemann, Salvör Gullbrá Þórarinsdóttir
Director: Salvör Gullbrá Þórarinsdóttir
Assistant director: Hjalti Vigfússon
Dźwięk /Music: Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson
Set and costumes: Wiola Ujazdowska
Lighting design: Fjölnir Gíslason