by Lone Nyhuus

Reality in the theatre

At precisely 12 noon, on December 18, 1974, 100 Father Christmases in red and white gowns poured out of the car deck of the Oslo ferry to fill Copenhagen with red and white merriment in the week preceding Christmas. They were roller-skating, singing songs, and carrying live animals. They visited nursing homes, entertaining the old people with ballads, and visited schools where they played old games with the children and distributed alternative history books; and suddenly they were all gathered in the Magasin department store. Here they passed out presents to the customers. Presents they plucked from the shelves.

190px_Teatergruppen Solvognens Julemandshær i 1974_Arrestation af en julemand_Foto PolfotoNew argumentation
"The most important thing was not whether we were right; the most important thing is that we argued in a new way," explains Nina Rasmussen who was one of the co-founders of the theatre group Solvognen (the Sun Chariot) in 1969.
 
Solvognen came from Copenhagen's hippie district, Christiania. The group wanted to create political theatre of action through humorous and peaceful protest. These were directed against the rising price of milk, the repression of the indigenous population by the imperialist United States (the Wounded Knee action), and the existence of NATO (the Nato Army action) - as well as the commercialisation and developed bourgeois nature of Christmas. That's where Julemandshaeren came in.

Is it theatre?!
Solvognen, which was dissolved in 1983, played a part in real life, and real life played a part in the theatre of Solvognen. When 100 red Father Christmases ventured out in the streets of Copenhagen, they were all enthusiastic about "playing the part" as the naïve Santa who believes in happiness and goodness. When they clashed with the police, were arrested and hand-cuffed, it was because the policemen were as plausible in playing their parts. All of them!

The week-long performance had an even longer aftermath. A furious debate raged in the newspapers in the ensuing months. About the freedom of speech (and limitations to it), about the general state of democracy, about theatre - and its definition. Is it theatre when 100 Father Christmases walk into Magasin and distribute presents? Solvognen said yes.

Lone Nyhuus is a former dancer and choreographer. As a freelance journalist she works for the DR P2 radio programme Teatermagasinet (The Theatre Magazine).

The Santa Claus Army, 1974. Photo: Polfoto.