During the year there is a phenomenon in Denmark called ‘Hygge’, which I define as the three Cs: cosiness, conviviality and companionship. Christmas commandeering All year round the Danes love hygge, and then in December, something happens. The hygge stops and ‘Julehygge’ begins. Hygge requires meeting friends for a drink and lighting a candle, but…
So what is the theme of your Crazy Christmas Show this year?” Talk like an Egyptian I am always asked this question around this time of the year by those who don’t realise I have to choose a theme back in February for the Ta’ i Teatret magazine that is distributed to every household in…
There is something rotten in the state of f***ing Denmark,” was yelled at an astonished audience in the courtyard of Kronborg Castle this month when the German theatre company Staatsschauspiel Dresden performed its groundbreaking performance ‘Hamlet. Prince of Denmark’. One critic described it as “like throwing a hand grenade at all our previous ideas of…
When my mother came to visit me in Copenhagen for the first time in the early 1980s, she was amazed to find bearded hippies wearing Arab scarves, pregnant women sunbathing naked in Faelledparken and the whole population watching ‘Matador’ on TV. It wasn’t quite the quaint fairy-tale land she’d envisaged from reading about Hans Christian…
I was at my Jamaican friend’s house in London having a cup of tea, when there was suddenly a loud crash. “Don’t worry,” she said. “That is the workman. I am having a wall knocked through.” United colours of Britain A man came into the kitchen and they had a hand-gesture conversation. “He is from Romania,”…
Vivienne McKee, Denmarks best-known English entertainer, is this countrys most beloved foreign import. Over the last 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Copenhageners have enjoyed her annual Crazy Christmas Cabaret show at Tivoli, marvelling at her unique, wry Anglo wit and charm.
Vivienne McKee, Denmark’s best-known English entertainer, is this country’s most beloved foreign import. Over the last 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Copenhageners have enjoyed her annual Crazy Christmas Cabaret show at Tivoli, marvelling at her unique, wry Anglo wit and charm.
The true Viking spirit emerges when a Dane sits in his car or on the saddle of his bicycle. And on a bike, he even wears a helmet (albeit without the horns). They say that an Englishman’s home is his castle. For a Dane, it’s his car. From his upholstered seat, the Viking lords his…
Vivienne McKee, Denmark’s best-known English entertainer, is this country’s most beloved foreign import. Over the last 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Copenhageners have enjoyed her annual Crazy Christmas Cabaret show at Tivoli, marvelling at her unique, wry Anglo wit and charm.
It’s Crazy Christmas time again – and I am back! I have written, directed and appeared in the show every year since 1982, but last year I felt that I needed a break from being on stage. I did not expect to receive so many distressed mails from people who missed my alter-ego, Dr van…
I went to New York this summer to check out the Fringe Theatre Festival. It was haphazard, haywire, messy, fun, funky and very friendly. A reflection of the city itself. The direct, in ‘your’ face, friendliness of the New Yorkers took me by surprise. I began to realise how Danish I had become. Swept off…
