From Fjaltring to Nuuk

Greenland's first professional theater and first publicly recognized theater school, Tuukkaq Theatre, located in Fjaltring in Lemvig in Denmark, has been secured for posterity through a collaboration between Royal Danish Library and Greenland's National Museum and Archive, Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allagaateqarfialu. The theatre's archive has now come to Greenland, and the director of Greenland's National Museum and Archives, Daniel Thorleifsen, says:

"Tuukkaq Theatre was an important cultural institution during a turning point in Greenland's history, when people began to insist on the restoration and continuation of Inuit traditions and customs, which were disappearing in the Danishization policy. The first Greenlandic actors were also trained here, and it played a great role in the creation of modern Greenlandic theatre. That is why we are extremely happy that we can now secure archives and objects for posterity."

An important work for the Inuit people

Tuukkaq Theatre was founded on September 1st 1975 by the Norwegian Reidar Nilsson (1945-2024) and Elin Nilsson (1936-2017). As early as November 1975, the theatre was approved as a place of education by the Ministry of Greenland. The theatre developed a form of theatre that incorporated drumming, singing and mask work.

It is actor Bendo Schmidt and Erninguaq Poulsen, who were part of the Tuukkaq Theatre, who have handed over the collection. Bendo Schmidt played the Mother of the Sea in the theatre's first performance: "Inuit" . The performance went on tour, and was part of the first "Inuit Circumpolar Council" in Alaska in 1977, and it was not without drama:

"On the way to the historic meeting, the troupe had to make an emergency landing, but was met by a shaman who handed a whale bone with a male and female head to Reidar Nilsson with the words: Your work will be important for the Inuit people" says Erninguaq Poulsen. The bone is preserved and part of the donation of pictures, films, scripts, notes, posters and masks from the theatre.

A cornerstone of theater history

The Tuukkaq Theatre, which was active until 1994, became an important voice in relation to the development of indigenous theatre in several places in the world, including several Sami groups connected to the Tuukkaq Theatre.

Royal Danish Library have been aware of the collection in Fjaltring for a long time, and senior researcher Anna Lawaetz, who is responsible for the Theatre Collection, says that it was a quick effort, in which the head of the Nordic Theatre Laboratory, Per Kap, was also involved as a partner who made it possible for the collection to be sent to Greenland, where it is included as a cornerstone of theatre history.

In Greenland, the collection will be sorted and registered and subsequently made available to the public in Nuuk.