Why a fight for artistic respect on the Faroe Islands should matter to everyone

Photo: Shutterstock. Retrieved from thestage.co.uk

It is of grave concern that artists in the Faroe Islands are in conflict with their own national theatre. A resolution will depend on its leadership listening to the very people who keep the industry alive.

All of us who work in theatre know of its transformative power. We frequently see this in action across communities brought together through it and who, importantly, are afforded a voice.

I have just returned from visiting the Faroe Islands, where I had been invited to lead a masterclass on playcraft and artistic producing at its university. Spending time with a talented group of enthusiastic local artists and creatives on their islands was insightful and reinforced how access to the arts is vital everywhere but in such a remote region, it can prove life-changing.

The arts bring a vibrant heartbeat to the Faroe Islands, the small cluster of islands located between Iceland and Norway, where artistic inspiration is drawn from across its landscape and ripples out into stories that its artists and writers want to share. The fact that this country, housing a total of 52,000 inhabitants, has succeeded in building a vibrant professional theatre infrastructure that includes its own actors’ union is testament to the ambition of artists on the Faroe Islands. This began with the determination and vision of one person.

Eyðun Johannesen, who died last month, was born on the Faroe Islands and grew up with the ambition to be a professional actor in a community where such a career choice seemed impossible. Undeterred, his determination and perseverance to achieve that dream would eventually take him on to train at the Royal Danish Theatre School in Copenhagen. From there, he embarked on a successful career as both an actor and director at theatres across Europe.