Scan Magazine | Mini Theme | Danish Culture In and Around Copenhagen
The 3D experience they call theatre With more than 150 years of theatre productions behind it, Folketeatret (the People’s Theatre) offers its visitors an experience that encompasses both the past and the present of the theatre. Theatre director Kasper Wilton talks to Scan Magazine about what it means to be ‘the people’s theatre’ in today’s Denmark. By Signe Hansen | Photos: Folketeatret
Copenhageners have been coming to Folketeatret in Nørregade for a night out of the ordinary, generation after generation. But it is not just the urbanites of Copenhagen who enjoy the theatre’s wide-ranging repertoire. Touring the whole of Denmark, the theatre has always been, and still is, the theatre of the people of all of Denmark – and that is a responsibility to be taken seriously, says theatre director Kasper Wilton. “What does it 60 | Issue 110 | March 2018
mean to be a theatre of the people, today? That is a question we are constantly asking ourselves. We seek to create theatre experiences that are relevant to our time. We are a theatre that needs to reach far and wide – just because we’re old, that does not mean we should be dusty.” Wilton has been director of the theatre since 2010 and has staged a number of huge audience successes, including chil-
dren’s shows, modern biography theatre and revived classic plays.
History on and off the stage Founded and built in 1857, Folketeatret is the capital’s oldest still-functioning theatre for the people. The theatre’s long past can be explored through a newly created hall of history with selected photographs and stories. The focus on history and heritage is also present on stage, though here it is combined with modern-day relevance and talent. Big classics by, for instance, Holberg are revived for Folketeatret and presented with new vivacity, modern vocabulary and, sometimes, in completely new settings such as the Wild West. “We combine classic dramas