Ok its not actually day 1 so I have already failed what I had planned to do. After 4 months in lockdown I finally decided enough was enough and booked a flight to Iceland. Then I started looking into what I could do there. I applied for a few jobs, a course at the university and put myself forwards as a volunteer at Reykjavik Fringe. I got two of the jobs I applied for, got into the university course and was accepted as a volunteer at the Fringe. Hence why I’ve only really had time to sit down and type this out now. After testing negative at the airport I was able to reunite with my family in our childhood home in Iceland. It felt… surreal to say the least. But more on that later. I know why you are all here. You want to hear about the THEATRE! And who can blame you? With the situation in the UK being dire to say the least and other countries are not far behind. I have a theory that the theatre industry all over Europe is collapsing but artists might not be as vocal about it because their government hasn’t left them in the actual pooper. So lets discuss Europe’s possibly only fringe festival summer 2020.
Reykjavik Fringe is relatively new on the scene. That being said it has an array of shows in English and an impressive range of international acts programmed. Had an impressive range that is. Most of the international acts either cancelled due to COVID and or travel complications. But the organisers of Reykjavik Fringe tackled the problem head on and a number of acts have chosen to perform via livestream from the safety of their own home. The first such show, Crapshoot! Or Why Al voted for Trump: A Lovestory was live-streamed during the opening party. Although I think the audience was slightly too distracted by the free booze to pay attention to the livestream. After the show the opening party kicked off for real. In Iceland there is only a ban of gatherings of over 500 people so that makes for a pretty decent party. Unfortunately bars are only allowed to stay open till 11pm but hey ho what can you do. During the party there were pop up performances from various artists performing at the festival. My personal favourite was the performance by Sirkus Unga Folksinns or the Youth Circus. It was particularly impressive to see them work around how crowded and small the venue was.
The night ended early due to the restrictions but it was very successful. Don’t worry day 2 brings about more performances as I visited the main comedy venue Secret Cellar.