|
Three of Ragnar Arnalds' plays have been performed at the National Theatre of Iceland: Rebels at Ísafjörður 1986, Solveig 1998 and Landlubber Aboard 2000, while Pastoral Symphony was first performed by the Reykjavík Theatre Company. The Blönduós Theatre Company performed Hillebrandt's House in 1997. The Siglufjörður Theatre Company performed Silfur hafsins in 1997. Landlubber Aboard was awarded first prize in a playwriting contest held on the occasion of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary in the spring of 2000. Ragnar Arnalds' play about the Icelandic settlement of the New World a thousand years ago, Land of Vines, won third prize in the Akureyri Theatre Company's contest for new one-act plays in the winter of 2000. This is one of two one-act plays by the playwright about Icelandic settlers in the New World; the other, set on Lake Winnipeg in 1874, is New Iceland, see New World. Ragnar Arnalds was born and brought up in Reykjavík, but sat in parliament for a north-Iceland constituency for thirty years. He served in two governments, first as Minister of Education, later as Minister of Finance. In his book Sjálfstæðið er sívirk auðlind (Independence is an Inexhaustible Resource) (1998) he discusses the necessity of preserving Icelandic independence, and presents his arguments against Icelandic membership of the European Union. He also recounts the story of resistance to the US military presence in Iceland, see www.xx.is/fullveldi
|
|