VÉR MORÐINGJAR – WE THE MURDERERS
Theater is dead. Long live Theater.

Vér Morðingjar was formed to combine the powers of young, professional actors and utilize them to make dreams come true. To be an effective force in Icelandic and European theater. We go to whatever lengths the play requires of us to tell each story in the most challenging way.

The audience should expect the unexpected.

Vér Morðingjar are a small, independent company, formed in 2004 while the founders were still students at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts. Vér Morðingjar are dedicated to present fresh and edgy new plays to their community. We are commited to original works and providing creative opportunities to young Icelanders.

The founding members and their productions, both independent and in conjunction with the National Theater of Iceland and Reykjavík City Theater have received numerous awards and recognitions for their work.

Vér Morðingjar takes as its focus the presentation of plays that reflect the cultural and social relationships that we encounter each day through narrative and the creative process. Important to the company is the fostering and development of emerging playwrights and theatre artisans in their communities. Also important are stories that speak to contemporary and moral choices that new generations of theater goers of their respective cultures face.

Vér Morðingjar is gaining a reputation as the hottest thing on Iceland’s boards. Working from a variety of sources, Vér Mordingjar’s core quartet (Stefán Hallur Stefánsson, Jörundur Ragnarsson, Dóra Jóhannsdóttir and Vignir Rafn Valthórsson) aim to remind audiences of theatre’s explosive potential.

Vér Morðingjar´s recent productions have ranged from Anthony Nielsen’s in-yer-face British drama Penetrator, to new German social satire The Ugly One to devised piece Bubbi Kongur, an anarchic take on Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi. The latest production, however, was turned to a nominally more classical ground with an exhilarating new version of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in collaboration with Iceland’s National Theatre. with Stefánsson, directing and playing the lead role.

Vér Morðingjar has just completed touring the country with The Ugly One (the production of Marius von Mayenburg's play won Best Director at this year’s Icelandic Theatre Awards),and upcoming is staging Sarah Kane’s devastating Cleansed at the Reykjavík City Theatre.

CV – founding members of Vér Morðingjar

Stefán Hallur Stefánsson
Since graduating in 2006 from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts (IAA) Stefán has performed in over 18 theater productions with various production companies. He has tenure at the National Theater of Iceland and sits on the Dramaturgical Board concerned with selecting upcoming plays. He has been a teacher at the dramaturgical department of the IAA since 2007.

Vignir Rafn Valþórsson
Graduated in 2007 from the IAA and has been very influential in the Icelandic independent theater scene since then, as well as being a regular on various Icelandic TV shows He is currently working in The National Theater of Iceland.

Dóra Jóhannsdóttir
Graduated in 2006 from the IAA and is currently completing the lead role in the biggest TV mini-series ever produced in Iceland by the Icelandic Broadcasting Corporation. Has worked for the National Theater and various other companies.

Jörundur Ragnarsson
Is one of Iceland´s rising stars. Graduated in 2006 from the IAA, he won Best Actor at EDDAN the Icelandic Film Awards for the movie Veðramót . Dagvaktin, which Jörundur co-wrote and starred in, is the most popular TV-series ever produced in Iceland.

PREVIOUS PRODCUTIONS

PENETRATOR by Anthony Neilson
Premiered in 2005 at the Kling & Bang art Gallery
Directed by Kristín Eysteinsdóttir

Two deadbeats share a flat and indulge in drugs, alchohol and Bonnie Tyler. One night an old aquaintance turns up and digs up the secrets of their pasts. A fast and hard-boiled play about schizophrenia, paranoia, friendship, and co-dependence. The show was produced in conjunction with the Innovation Fund of Iceland and Hugarafl, a leading foundation for physchiatric treatment in Iceland. Patients, suffering from schizophrenia were deeply involved with the actors in assessing and evolving the roles. Penetrator was a huge success and had an ongoing run in the summers of 2005 and 2006.

UBU ROI by Alfred Jarry
Premiered at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2007
Directed by Vignir Rafn Valþórsson

An innovative, devised approach to the classic play by Jarry formulated around Icelandic contemporary politics. A swarm of actors, dancers, musicians and dramaturgs worked under an aesthetical niche from Vér Morðingjar called The Viking Theater, which entails that every scene, every idea, every outline, had to be stolen from another production.

THE UGLY ONE by Marius Von Mayenburg
Premiered at The National Theater of Iceland 2008
Directed by Kristín Eysteinsdóttir

A social satire from one of Europe´s leading contemporary playwrights. A play dealing with self-image, beauty and our place in a world run by the market forces. Content vs. appearances.
A co-production between Vér Morðingjar and The National Theater of Iceland, The Ugly One won Best Director at the Icelandic Theater Awards 2008 and is still on an ongoing run of sold-out performances.

MACBETH by William Shakespeare
Premiered at The National Theater of Iceland 2008
Directed by Stefán Hallur Stefánsson and Vignir Rafn Valþórsson

A co-production between The National Theater of Iceland and Vér Morðingjar. A new adaptaion of Shakespeare´s classic play about power, greed, love, betrayal and murder. A workshop-induced approach lead to a blood-driven battleground of mayhem and catharsis which inspired numerous newspaper articles by theater critics either praising or condemning the production.