Modernism makes its way into Danish theatre

Storm P. on the stage

Storm P. and Knudåge Riisager's ballet Benzin heralded completely new modernist tones at Royal Danish Theatre. The performance divided the audience into a hissing, indignant group and an energetic, applauding group. After the premiere on December 26, 1930, Social-Demokraten was able to report the following changes from the first to the second performance, which gives a fine sense of the grotesqueness of the performance: “(…) some of the more variety-like tricks that had aroused the audience's displeasure had been eliminated. Thus, the lady who stuck her legs up through the prompter box had been removed and Storm's participation in the last scene, where he, among other things, unfolds his beard with the inscription "Merry Christmas" and is finally hoisted up to the ceiling as a kind of replacement for the moon, had been completely eliminated. On the other hand, Storm retained the little intermezzo where he takes off his beard, hangs it on a clothes-line and treats it with a carpet beater.” (December 29, 1930). Demokraten believed that the performance had done well with its amusing inventions on another theater stage (December 27, 1930).

Part of the groundbreaking theatre, when one disregards the ballet's contribution, took place outside the walls of Royal Danish Theatre. As director of the Riddersalen, Arne Weel (1891-1971) supported Poul Henningsen's (1894-1967) theatre career, which had already begun in 1929 with Paa Hod'et at Nørrebro Theatre, but which continued at Riddersalen with Kvindernes oprør (1931), Pæn og højlf (1931), På Halen (1932), Mars paa Week-end (1937) and Op og ned med Jeppe (1937). Kjeld Abell (1901-1961) had already staged the modernist jazz ballet Enken i Spejlet (1934) in 1934, but the following year staged his breakthrough performance Melodien der blev væk (1935) at Riddersalen, where a whole new visual stage language was introduced. These works have gone down in theatre history – also for their visual expression, as seen in Holger Damgaard's theatre images.

Theatre as a political changemaker

Arbejdernes (The Workers') Theatre was established as early as 1925, and in 1932 Per Knutzon (1897-1948) started the Revolutionary Theatre. Both groups had a strong political aim with their art. The first group, which was a mixture of "ordinary workers" and actors, was introduced to Denmark by the playwright Ernst Toller (1893-1939). The second group worked to break down where theatre could take place by, among other things, going out to workplaces. The two groups collaborated to stage Bertolt Brecht's Fru Carrers geværer in 1937, after which they disbanded. Director Robert Schmidt (1882-1941) explained in Aftenbladet the aesthetics that were sought in the new political theatre, referring to Russian films:

"The scenes in them seem as if they were real events that one followed through a keyhole. That is something that the times demand. After the war, a deeper intimacy is demanded in the theatre. It comes from the fact that the world has become naked. One could say that nowadays reality is so strong and brutal that we see the very skeleton of existence. One cannot lie to people anymore. Not even embellish things. If you do that, the audience laughs. Only the completely genuine can move modern people." (Aftenbladet, October 14, 1932).

One senses a documentary style in the theatre images, along with the aftermath of World War I. The use of precisely “ordinary” people as a tactic on the theatre stage is also found today in, for example, Tue Biering's (1973- ) group Fix & Foxy .