Theatre
Atoms and Madams
Kjarnorka og kvenhylli
Agnar Þórðarson · 1955
Synopsis
In post-war Iceland, a Canadian scientist sent by an international scientific commission discovers uranium in a mountain in the country. At once, a member of parliament for the region schemes to take the land away from his friend the farmer, while the great powers, America foremost, covet the island's resources and opportunism spreads among Icelanders. The comedy satirises the new urban life and the race for natural wealth.
Context
The play was first staged in 1955 at the Iðnó theatre in Reykjavík and printed in 1957. The newspaper Heimildin regards it as a good play about competition over natural resources, which has remained topical, and regrets that its author is no longer performed in Reykjavík. Einar Haugen translated it into English for Fire and Ice, an anthology of three Icelandic plays published in 1967 by the University of Wisconsin in its series of Nordic translations. The author then gave the National Theatre, in 1958, Gauksklukkan, a play about disappointed hopes.
Who it is for
A satirical comedy, in Icelandic, which can be read in English; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Judged skilful and entertaining by recent critics, and still topical according to the Icelandic press.