Female playwrights on the stage
In the 1910s, female playwrights such as Emma Gad and Olga Ott focused on major social issues such as divorce and the consequences of war, leaving their mark on the Danish theatre scene.
Already in connection with the modern breakthrough (1870-1890), a number of female playwrights had made their mark on the Copenhagen stages, which now included, in addition to Royal Danish Theatre, the New Theatre, the Dagmar Theatre, Casino Theatre, Folketeatret, the Nørrebro Theatre, Røde Kro – and the slightly more cheerful Scala and Centralteatret in the Circus Building. The female playwrights could still be found in the theatres' repertoire in the 1910s, when the private was discussed in the public space.
Divorce drama
Playwright and founder of the Danish Dramatists' Association, Emma Gad (1852-1921), known for Takt & Tone, for example, treated divorce in a light-hearted manner in the three-act play Ægtestand at the Dagmar Theatre in 1913, a few years before women were given the right to vote. Here, Mrs. Wanda Winge has fallen in love with a pianist who lives on "moods and bananas" and her husband, a margarine manufacturer Winge, has therefore also found someone else. The four of them meet to discuss how their son should be divided between them when the rich aunt from America, Mrs. Ulysses, shows up. In order not to disinherit their son, the divorced couple pretends to be together – and from there the farce develops into what Nationaltidende called "a mischievous divorce drama" (April 17, 1913). Social-Demokraten noted both the relevance of the play and the well-turned lines (April 17, 1913).
Divorce was a hot topic at the time. In 1910, a Scandinavian Family Law Commission was established to review the legislation in the area. In 1922, a marriage law was passed that introduced economic equality between spouses and the possibility of dissolving the marriage after a separation period of 1.5 years, if both parties agreed. The theatre stage thus served as a discussion arena for the different positions in relation to divorce and legislation and was thus central to the development of the area.
Photo: Holger Damgaard
Emigration and World War I
Another female playwright, Olga Ott (1871-1921), linked the world outside Denmark to the private sphere in her three one-act plays Ukrudt, De Våbenløse and Du skal ære. They were staged at the New Theatre in 1918 under the title Skjulte Kampe (Hidden Struggles). The link between the one-act plays was “the hidden struggles, that is the secrets of the heart that so many people brood over behind the masks they show to the outside world” (Social-Demokraten, February 14, 1918).
The first piece, Ukrudt, depicts an old piano teacher's encounter with the lover of her youth, who, unlike her, has lived a life outside the classroom - in America. He chooses her piano student over her because the student still has 'the wildness of the weeds'. The second piece, De Våbenløse, is a comment on the First World War and the remoteness that the war had in Denmark. A German married woman is on holiday at a Danish seaside hotel while her husband is fighting at the front. She seeks out her childhood sweetheart, and while they toast, her dead husband is present in the room in the form of an oxygen telegram that puts a zest for life in the face of the First World War. In the last piece, Du skal ære, three generations in the shadow of the First World War are confronted with the fourth commandment of the Bible: You shall honour your mother and your father. But it is not easy: the millionaire director Simon cannot honour his mother because she is too poor, and his children cannot honour him because he is too rich: “It was by far the best of all the goulash satires that have appeared in the theatres during the war,” Nationaltidende wrote about the performance (February 14, 1918) and suggested expanding it into a full-length performance. By specifically thematizing the prosperity that followed from the industrial adventures of the so-called Goulash barons with the sale of canned meat of a dubious nature to the front, the play became a sharp contribution to the discussion of ethics and morality in Denmark in relation to the First World War.
The expanding theatre scene
The New Theatre opened in 1908 as the latest addition to the expanding theatre scene: Now, in addition to Royal Danish Theatre, the Copenhagen theatre audience could go to the Dagmar Theatre, Casino Theatre, Folketeatret, the Nørrebro Theatre, Røde Kro – and the slightly more cheerful Scala and Central Theatre in the Circus Building. Royal Danish Theatre must have felt a certain competition - there was discussion about separating opera, ballet and drama through the establishment of a State Theatre, which would give all three art forms the opportunity for more productions and longer performance periods. However, the separation of the art forms at Royal Danish Theatre was not realized until almost 100 years later with the opening of the Opera (2005) and Skuespilhuset (2007).
Lights on stage
In terms of stage technology, electric lighting had made its appearance. This meant that the stage could be illuminated evenly, and the actors could therefore move more freely. This suited the realism that characterised the decade, when painted sets (which can still be found at the Pantomimeteatret in Tivoli) had been abandoned and real interiors were imitated instead.
In the photographs from the productions of the two playwrights' works, one can see a common feature: The detailed set design, where the actors are in the living room, together with a style of acting that is centered on the characters' inner lives, gives the impression of realism. This is particularly clear in the divorce drama - the woman sits aside and reads, while the aunt from America reaches out to the margarine manufacturer, even though it is a farce, that is, a comic text, where one would previously have seen a more caricatured style of acting.
Explore the collection
Holger Damgaard's theatre images are a unique collection of approximately 10,000 photographs from 1909-1940. The pictures come from Copenhagen theatre stages, as well as some outside the capital area, that is Dagmar Theatre, Betty Nansen Theatre, Casino Theatre, Scala, Royal Danish Theatre, Folketeatret, Nørrebro Theatre, The New Theatre, Riddersalen, Arbejdernes Theatre, et cetera.
You can find more of Holger Damgaard's theatre images via this link. You can search by theatre, title of the play, director, set designer or the names of the performers.