Looking across the pristine Icelandic landscape she is about to alter forever, Rósa wonders - is the landscape also looking back at her?
A collaboration between Hikapee Theatre and Huldufugl, a show for medium to large stages that combines circus arts, theatre, Icelandic folklore and creative technology.
In Iceland, stories exist of 'huldufólk' (hidden people) - beings of uncertain benevolence held responsible in for both sudden good fortune and disappearances, unexpected occurrences and madness. They can be seen as as anthropomorphisation, an embodiment of nature with all its gifts and dangers.
Hikapee approached us at Huldufugl to collaborate on this piece, and for us to join our skills with creative technology to their high-flying aerial storytelling abilities.
After having visited us here in Iceland, they wanted to tell a story involving these huldufólk in some way. Initially, we were reluctant - stories of huldufólk have a slightly cliché status within Iceland itself, but we then came round to seeing this as an opportunity and challenge - how can we use these embodiments of nature to tell a modern story, focused on humanity's impact on the natural world.
Together we narrowed in on a story featuring the building of a hydroelectric dam - a controversial topic within Iceland, providing clean power on one hand, but flooding vast areas of pristine countryside with the other.
During the research and development process, we experimented with different technologies to animate this world - and settled on large-scale projection mapping, using both the set and the performers themselves as a canvas.
With projected visuals for the entire duration of the show (90 minutes), we used Houdini and Unity to design and render the scenes. Playback was handled using a custom-made TouchDesigner app, receiving cues via OSC from Qlab, running realtime effects on top of the video, and handling the projection mapping.
In some scenes, we're even controlling the visuals with an Xbox gamepad live
during shows, which just to keep things exciting!
Finally, after several years of rehearsals, covid-induced delays and
fundraising, the world premiere took place at Worthing Pavilion Theatre in
March 2022. The show plans to be touring worldwide from August 2022.
Creative Team
- Produced by Hikapee & Huldufugl
- Bryony Livesey-Casey – Co-Writer, Artistic Director
- Edd Livesey-Casey – Co-Writer, Performer
- Nanna Gunnars – Co-Writer, Performer
- Owen Hindley – Co-Writer, Visual Design
- Jenni Pystynen – Lighting Consultant
- Saz Moir – Set Design
- Tarn Aitken - Set Fabrication
- Sarah Juliet Dearing - Costume Design
- Rachel Sampley - Lighting Design
- Saul Valiunas - Lighting Design
- Íris Thorarins – Composer
- Roland Smith – Dramaturg
- Catriona Giles - Movement Consultant
- Gabbie Cook - Movement Consultant
- Laura Overton-Harvey - Company Manager
- Jacob Hirsch-Holland - Head Rigger
- Chrissie Ardill - Associate Rigger
- Sophie Northmore - Performer
- Jen Robinson – Performer
- Katie Hardwick – Performer
- Tilly Mae - Performer
- Lawrence Swaddle - Performer
- Charlotte Greenstock - Performer
- Mim Wheeler – R&D Performer
- Hamish Tjoeng – R&D Performer
- Saku Mäkelä – R&D Performer
- Riia Kivimäki – R&D Performer