Cabaret in a War-Zone

The Danish Royal Theatre have set up an impressive performance of Cabaret with extravagant costumes one minute and grey and minimalistic settings the next. It runs until end of May and you can get tickets on the Theatre's website. You can also read more about it in Danish.

It shows the contrast between the bone chilling politics, which started showing their faces in Berlin in the 1930'ies and the glamour that existed in the nightclubs of that time.

The music expressed less variation. It tells us the story of the time and the place, but there is nothing light-hearted about the music in the club compared to the world outside. It makes the life of the entertainers seem like they were part of the evil scheme to cover up what really went on in Germany in those years.

This becomes very explicit in one scene, where Nazi-soldiers are violent to one of the characters while the Conférencier dances in front of them in a very sparkly suit. It reminds me of the musical Chicago, where a lawyer makes his living from having murderesses acquitted through use of "Razzle Dazzle".

With more focus on the darkness and cruelty of Nazism, this performance is very different to the show I remember seeing many years ago. It is more like a horror story. Shivers are sent down the spine when a blond Hitler Jugend boy sings "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" with his voice of an innocent child.

This Sally Bowles character is not an attempt to copy Liza Minnelli's version from the film and her role is much smaller in this rendition. Two songs that reveal the character in the film: "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time" have been taken out of this performance and she is not as charming as Liza Minnelli was. She simply comes across very careless.

It is unclear to me why the Clifford Bradshaw character lets Sally stay in his room. She is pushy and obnoxious and Clifford is not even straight. But I suppose it is just one of those cases where love makes no sense.

I find the other love story of the play between the widowed gentleman and the spinster landlady more engaging. The duets are very sweet and their voices suit each other. When that romance starts to become difficult because he is Jewish, it is heartbreaking.

Not all the songs are translated and even some lines are in German or English. If you don't understand one (or more) of these languages at all, I would recommend you read the story before you watch the show.

If you go to see it, expect the darkness of the nineteen thirties and not the light-heartedness of the Cabarets of the time.

Nordic Noir goes south of the border

Last night the first episode of the new Danish crime series "Murder without Borders" was broadcast. Three prostitutes are found killed in Copenhagen, Berlin and Antwerp, respectively. As you would expect from the name it takes an international team of investigators to work on the case.

I assume the reference to "Doctors without Borders" is chosen because of its catchiness and not because the murderer(s?) acts from humanitarian motives, but that is yet to be revealed. A twist like that could make the criminal plot more interesting. The characters seem promising though.

The Copenhagen lead investigator (male) has history with the German lead investigator (female) and at first he is reluctant to take the case. As his pregnant wife persuades him to get on the case, I would expect some extracurricular drama on that front.

If he falls for the temptation of the German lead it would fall in the tradition of cheating, which is held high by Danish police officers in TV-series. In the 90'ies police series "Rejseholdet" several of the officers got something on the side - sometimes with each other. The Danish police officer, Martin, in "Broen" (The Bridge) also cheats on his wife and they are on and off after that. I am curious to see if they come up with something more original in "Murder without Borders".

Another theme that echoes from "Broen" is the collaboration between a Danish male police officer with people skills and a Swedish female officer with hard skills. As opposed to Saga in Broen, this lady is it-savvy and seems to be functioning normally on a social level. I look forward to seeing more of that smooth Scandinavian duo.

The German lead appears to be the sharpest brain but it could be caused by the contrast to her assistant, who has a tendency to state the obvious. A young daughter of a senior officer, she is keen to show that she deserves to be on the team. This is pointed out to her in a very direct way, so there is potential for development in that duo.

The Belgian team promises to be entertaining as tension between the passionate female lead and her arrogant male assistant is thick. They are quick to criticise each other and clumsy performance by the Belgian team seems likely to be a theme, which could easily evolve into a farce.

The case they are working on is not as intriguing, and I struggle to see how many episodes the team can spend solving it. The viewer already knows who did it and why, unless some unforeseen twist presents itself. The personal drama in this series is much more promising, in terms of entertainment, and I am looking forward to seeing how the collaboration evolves.

Madrid

Going to Madrid in September is a great idea, when you live in a colder country. It was my last chance of the year to wear shorts and t-shirt.

It is a nice city. Many people don't speak English, but that doesn't stop them. I was impressed at how many conversations I had, without understanding the words, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. Whether it was trying to get a taxi to take me somewhere or ordering food in a restaurant.

I tried using my best Italian, but that wasn't much help. It was like they understood my English better, yet they didn't feel comfortable speaking it. I also looked up some Spanish words on my phone and managed to pronounce some of them well enough to be understood.

One day I went to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and went on the tour. It was impressive, and we even got to see the locker rooms and sit on the bench.

So Madrid is definitely well worth a visit and I'll probably be going there again some day. 

Stockholm - the city of friendly salesmen

I went to Stockholm this spring because my second cousin was celebrating her confirmation. It's a nice city to visit over a weekend. We went shopping, sailed around Skærgården and had nice food.

The great thing about shopping in Stockholm is - besides the obvious novelty of the selection that comes from going to another city - that the salespeople in the shops are interested in what you are looking for, and they try to help you. They are very friendly.

They'll even have an opinion on what kind of jeans will look good on your ass, which could come across offensive to some politer cultures (like the British) but as we are Danish, we'd rather take honesty than politeness.

So if you have the chance to go to Stockholm for the weekend, do it! But do it while it is warm. In general, stay out of Scandinavia in the winter (unless you are skiiing).

A tourist's guide to Copenhagen

One of my friends went to Copenhagen recently and I wrote a little guide for him, highlighting a few of my favourite parts of the city. Here it is:

Go to the park close to the hostel "Kongens Have" (King's Garden). It is a lovely park and you can see the Queen's guard exercise sometimes. They change the guards around half 1, I think and walk from there down to Amalienborg (the Regent's castle). You can't miss it if you are in that area as they have a band. 

There is a lovely area for coffee and lunch close by called "Torvehallerne". 

If you want to see the Carlsberg Museum, you'll need the train to Valby - take it from Nr. Port or any central station. You want the S-tog, not the Metro. Tickets are interchangable with busses and prices are similar.

In that area, you will also find the Zoo - the Elephants are even visible from the public park "Frederiksberg Have". And that is also a nice park. And there is a castle, where you may be able to get a tour by one of the soldiers - it functions as the Officer Academy for the Royal Danish Army. 

Tivoli Gardens is beatiful and buzzing of music and life but expensive - even to get entrance. It is open in the summer and for the Christmas market.

You'll find nice cafes in Nyhavn, Strædet and along the Canal in front of the Parliament Castle - although expensive. Cheaper options are available on Vesterbro, especially around Istedgade and Kødbyen. You will also see a more mixed group of people there. 

There are good restaurants and brunch-places on Vesterbro as well, especially on Vesterbrogade and Halmtorvet. There is also a city-museum and a quirky little cinema called "Vester vov Vov". 

Any other tips for anyone visiting?

Danish Language Policies

The Danish Language Authorities* (DLA for this purpose) have the habit of documenting the language rather than leading. This creates a massive grey-zone in what is correct Danish and what is not. As a Danish linguist, this was a challenging situation until the website www.sproget.dk was launched a few years ago. Before then, you had to pay for dictionaries and textbooks that were already out of date by about 10 years when released.

This website has made it easier and a lot more fun to be a Danish linguist based abroad. Providing small, entertaining articles discussing linguistic dilemmas, and providing guidance whenever particularly unusual usage of syntax or grammar has been applied in a text I am checking, this website is brilliant.

And it is a much needed tool because common practice used to be the only guidance in Danish. This becomes a problem; for example, the comma-rules have changed more times than I care to count in my parents' lifetime, making it impossible for generations to agree. Most younger people have entirely given up on learning the correct way to set a comma.

The DLA provide a descriptive science rather than prescriptive. They have tried to lead the path some years back by danifying the spelling of words adapted from other languages; the most discussed example being the French 'Mayonaise'. But the Danish people did not want to adapt their spelling. It was a foreign word, why deny that by spelling it in a Danish way? It is not like Danish is particularly phonetic anyway.

It is in the Danish mentality, that we do not like being told what to do. Also journalists in Denmark are rebellious - it would be nice if they were directing more of that rebellion toward unjust happenings in society, rather than toward spelling and grammar rules, but nothing is perfect.

This seems like an impossible dilemma for the DLA. On one hand, they are criticised for not leading, on the other when they try to lead, people don't follow. So what do they do to be taken seriously?

Well, creating useful, interesting content-based websites with short, interesting articles that are easy to share is a really good start. The way into the Danish people's hearts have always been through debate (if you are interested in the historical view on this, I can recommend some texts by Holberg and Kierkegaard) so let's keep the debate on language going. Then the DLA will have a better chance of getting to know the people - and it is always easier to lead, when you know who you are leading.


*Language Board may be a more accurate translation, but I wanted to make the point that they are an authority, although we don't like to acknowledge those in Denmark.

Flights with Great Scandinavian Writers

When I fly Norwegian I am reconnected with literature which has described Scandinavian cultures for centuries. Lately, I flew with a plane that had a large image of Aksel Sandemose and his name printed on its tail. He was the one who coined the term "Janteloven" which is something all Scandinavians suffer from to various degrees.
I have also flown with Selma Lagerlöf who wrote the fantastic story about a little mischievous boy who gets flown across Sweden by a flock of geese.
Being reminded of these great writers makes me enjoy the journey a little more. And if I can't remember who they are, I make use of the free in-flight Wifi to look them up.
Do you enjoy Scandinavian authors and which ones?