Digital Programme: Castle of Joy (Det Ferösche Compagnie)

Post-show talk

Thu 29 Feb, The Pit 

An in-conversation event with Director, Writer and Shadow Actor Búi Dam and members of the company, including Sámal Blak, Kristina Sörensen Ougaard, Dánjal á Neystabö, hosted by Bridget Escolme (Professor of Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary, University of London). Free to same-day ticket holders. 

Kristina Sørensen Ougaard
Actor

Kristina Sørensen Ougaard has a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance from The Place and a MA in European Classical Acting at London Drama Centre. Since her training and education, she has pursued a successful career as a choreographer, dancer, actress and theatre maker. She is currently working with various companies, touring globally, and occasionally appears in productions at the Faroese National Theatre.

Búi Dam 
Writer, Director and Performer

Búi Dam studied at the Danish National School of Performing Arts, the London School of Dramatic Art and Musicians Union Music School in Iceland (FIH). He has also been under the mentorship of American jazz saxophonist John Purcell and Indian poet and playwright H S Shivaprakash. Awards include the M A Jacobsen award in 2009 and 2022; the Geytin film award in 2020, and Best Actor at the 2021 Winter Film Awards in New York.

Dánjal Dam á Neystabø
Composer and Musician

Dánjal Dam á Neystabø graduated from Malmö Academy of Music in 2006. He has released music both as a solo artist and in collaboration with others. As a musician, songwriter and composer, he has worked on projects in Europe, Asia, Australia and the US, and has received awards and nominations from Danish and Faroese music awards. Dánjal Dam á Neystabøhas also composes for theatre and film, and has received the Faroese film award, Geytin.

Sámal Blak 
Set and Costume Designer

Sámal Blak has a degree in Design for Performance from Central Saint Martins. He was one of the individual winners of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design in 2009. Subsequently, he designed Verdi’s Otello for Birmingham Opera Company, directed by Graham Vick, which was nominated for the 2010 RPS Award for Opera and Music Theatre. Sámal Blak’s work was chosen to represent the United Kingdom as part of the ‘Make/Believe: UK Design for Performance 2011-2015′ exhibition at the V&A, previously at the Prague Quadrennial.

Súni Joensen 
Lighting Designer

Súni Joensen graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2016, and has since worked extensively in lighting design for theatre, television, music and architecture. Work in theatre includes Copenhagen and The Odyssey for The Royal Danish Theatre; Alice in Wonderland, The Word (Best Production at the Reumert Awards), Parasites and Leonora Christina at Aarhus Theatre; Romeo and Juliet and 46+1 at Aalborg Theatre; The Idiot, Dekameron and Anatomy of a Suicide at Le République; The Merry Widow for Den Fynske Opera; and Bosch Dreams for Les 7 Doigts de la Main. Súni Joensen is also a founding member of the Art Collective TOETT (The Other Eye of the Tiger).

Búi Rouch 
Movement Director

Búi Rouch trained at the School of the Science of Acting and graduated as a professional dancer from Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance in 2015. He has since worked extensively in Germany and the Faroes as a choreographer, dancer, actor and director for stage and screen. Productions include Tannhäuser for Bavarian State Opera; Die Reise der Verlorenen for Altonaer Theater; Sodom for Dock 11; For You My Love at  Schauburg Theatre; Fear.less at Neues Globe Theater; and For the Blue Sky at the Nordic House. Búi Rouch has been associated with Det Ferösche Compagnie since 2019, and is also an active member of RIVA: The Faroese Dance Company. 

Anna Kristin Bæk 
Set and Costume Design Assistant

Anna Kristin Bæk graduated as a fashion designer from Columbineskolen, Copenhagen in 2002. She has worked in several theatres in Denmark and the Faroes and made costumes for both stage and screen, most recently on productions by the Faroese National Theatre, for independent theatre companies Det Ferösche Compagnie and Tvazz, and TV production companies Saxofilm and Kykmyndir. She has taught design and sewing, and worked for many years as a seamstress and tailor. 

Jens L. Thomsen
Sound Engineer

Jens L. Thomsen has a BA (Hons) degree in Music Technology, graduating from Thames Valley University in 2006, where he also received the 2006 Student Achievement Award. He has composed music for theatre, and for soundtracks for various award-winning short films. His work is credited on over fifty album releases. He won first prize at Liet International 2010 and also at Stockholm Fringe Festival in 2015, and was runner up for the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2009. His project, ORKA, was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize 2016.

Beinir Bergsson 
Technician

Beinir Bergsson holds a Master’s in German language and literature and lives in Sørvágur, Faroe Islands. Beinir has published two collections of poems – one named Tann lítli drongurin og beinagrindin (2017) which was translated to Icelandic and Greek, and another called Sólgarðurin (2021) which was nominated the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2022. Sólgarðurin has been translated and published in three different countries. In 2024 the poetry collection will be published in an English translation by the publisher Francis Boutle.

Bergtóra Patursson
Research Advisor

Bergtóra Patursson has a MA in the History of Ideas from Lund University. Her primary research interest is the intersection of ideas about nation and gender, sexuality and race in the Faroese 19th and 20th century history of ideas. She is currently working as a high school philosophy teacher and librarian.

Urd Johannesen
Producer

Urd Johannesen has a Cand. Mag. degree in English and International Studies from Aalborg University, and a MA in Arts Management from City University in London. She has produced work for music, theatre, film and literature, and has also worked as a publisher, translator and writer. She has been employed by the Faroese Cultural Ministry, the Nordic House and has been the literary coordinator of FarLit, promoting Faroese literature abroad. Urd Johannesen is currently the cultural coordinator in the municipality of Runavík. She is also a radio host and poet.

Durita Sumberg
Producer and Tour Manager

Durita Sumberg has a Cand. Mag. in Dramaturgy, Film and Media from Aarhus University. Since 2018, she has produced theatre in Scandinavia and the Faroe Islands. She is a producer for DFC, Yggdrasil Nordic Theatre Network, and the new circus company Acting for Climate, which works to unite performing arts and climate themes. She has also been employed by the Nordic House in the Faroe Islands.