Newspaper Article

Fairy tale that Ireland can only dream of ; Denmark is pushing the boat out for Hans Christian Andersen's bicentenary. We could learn from it, reports Belinda McKeon

2004

Overview

Yet it wasn't until Lars Seeberg, secretary general of the eight- month festival planned for [Hans Christian Andersen]'s bicentenary in Denmark next year, approached [Robert Lepage] with the idea of taking the author as inspiration for a solo show that he began to feel the connection. Familiar only, as most of us are, with the better-known fairy tales, he began to delve deeper into Andersen's enormous oeuvre - his tales for adults, his prose arabesques, his travel sketches - and discovered the hook he was looking for. Like Andersen himself, the central character of the tale The Dryad, a female spirit who inhabits a tree, was drawn towards the Paris world exhibition, opened by Napoleon in 1867. \"And 1867,\" says Lepage, \"was the birth of Canada. And exactly 100 years later, in Montreal, was the world exhibition for my generation.\" Which might sound merely cute until you sit in on the lavish two- hour prize-giving ceremony in Andersen's home city of Odense, some 100 miles east of Copenhagen, and hear the heartfelt speeches of the new Hans Christian Andersen ambassadors - several culturally inclined individuals from around the world, chosen to spread the word about the author in their countries - and watch as an honorary HCA award is bestowed on a smiling Queen Margrethe of Denmark, as well as on an Italian translator and a Brazilian professor of literature. All three are being rewarded for their work in bringing Andersen to a wider audience - the queen, a recognised painter and costume designer, for her work on stage versions of Andersen's tales. After their speeches, and some Andersen-themed musical interludes, comes Lepage's moment - and his E50,000 prize cheque. It's most likely to be on its stage that most of next year's Andersen-themed productions will appear. The US choreographer John Neumeier's ballet of The Little Mermaid will open in April; The Secret Arias, a new chamber opera by Elvis Costello, will explore Andersen's infatuation with the Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind. Along with Lepage, Arc Dance Company, the Australian Ballet and the Spanish company Teatro de los Sentidos, headed by the Colombian director Enrique Vargas, are scheduled to visit as part of the Andersen celebrations.

• Publisher: The Irish Times DAC
• Subject: Andersen, Hans Christian / Bentzon, Peter / Lepage, Robert / McKeon, Belinda