Þriggja rétta (2020)
by Magnús Thorlacius
Í kvöld verður boðið upp á forréttindi, aðalréttindi og eftirréttindi
Það á enginn að þurfa að vera saddur eftir að hafa borðað forrétt. Það er líklega það sorglegasta sem ég veit. Að ímynda sér, að vera ekki einu sinni hálfnaður með kvöldverðinn en vera samt orðinn saddur?
Can you order happiness? What about nausea? Does blissful ignorance make you happy or is the only way to live to be constantly aware of every side of every story? Þriggja rétta (Three course) is an absurd play set in a fancy restaurant. It provides an insight into the ordering process of two adult children and explores how they deal with their different privilege statuses. Furthermore it deals with the endless battle for being noticed without stepping on other people’s toes and the never ending journey to guiltless happiness.
The play was written in a course at The Icelandic University of the Arts in early 2020. It was stage read publicly twice, at the end of the course and again at the International University Day in Iceland. The play was turned into a stage performance through devising mechanisms for Reykjavík Fringe Festival in the summer of 2020, more on that here.
A radio play is currently in production, and will premier in 2021.
Playwright:
Magnus Thorlacius
Stage readers:
Starkaður Pétursson,
Una Torfadóttir/Melkorka Gunborg Briansdóttir
Stage read at:
IUA, Reykjavík (Jan 2020)
IUA, Reykjavík (Feb 2020)
Instructor:
Ásgerður Roberts Gunnarsdóttir
Photos from stage readings by Ingibjörg Huld Haraldsdóttir and Óðinn Ásbjarnarson
Devised stage production
Read more about the stage production performed at Reykjavik Fringe Festival 2020 here
Excerpt from the script (translated)
Boy: I’m becoming gay.
Girl: Gay?
Boy: Yes, gay.
Girl: Why?
Boy: To make myself interesting. I’m not interesting enough.
Girl: That’s a cliché.
Boy: What?
Girl: Being gay. It’s a cliché.
Boy: I don’t like that word. Cliché. When something has been done before, can it never be done again?
Girl: It can. But it’s still a cliché.
Boy: To be gay?
Girl: Yes.
Boy: Should I not be gay then?
Girl: You can be whatever you want. But if you want to excel you have to be something else.
Boy: Excel?
Girl: Exceed.
Boy: I need to be something else?
Girl: Yes. Lesbian. Trans. Non-binary. You could call yourself they.
Boy: They?
Girl: Yes, they. Not him. Not her. They.
Boy: They?
Girl: Yes, they. Not man. Not woman. They.
Boy: But I’m no they. I’m a man. And men can be gay. Therefore, I want to become gay.
Girl: Then you are like everyone else.
Boy: Like who?
Photos by Nikulás Tumi Hlynsson