Mungo Park - Travels in the Interior of Africa
By Thor Bjorn Krebs & Martin Lyngbo Co-produced with Mungo Park Theatre, Allerød, Denmark
2016-18
2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Summerhall
2016 Scottish Tour
2017 Danish Tour including Copenhagen Stage Festival
2018 Leeuwarden European Capital of Culture, Netherlands
PRESS
“A triumph of political theatre, Mungo Park will not disappoint.” **** Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
“As a play it really has it all: a great true story, a tragic hero, and challenging themes as cultures meet. Better still, it’s carried off with panache and superb theatricality. Get to Summerhall!” ***** edinburghfringeguru.com
“…if you want a stirring measure of the man and his life, you won’t do better than this motion picture of a play.”
***** edinburgh49.org
“This show is exactly what you want to see at the Fringe – brave, innovative and wildly entertaining.”
**** one4review.com
“A playful and thought-provoking triumph…the trio have a fantastic stage chemistry…a breakneck roller-coaster ride…with plenty of laughs… (and) plenty of depth” **** Broadway Baby
“A cracking script from Martin Lyngbo & Thor Bjorn Krebs that’s as educational as it’s entertaining.” **** The Stage
”A big-ambitioned theatrical tour de force” **** Inverness Courier
AUDIENCE
“What an AWESOME play. I was completely speechless.” Wytse de Vries, Leeuwarden
“Great performance! ***** out of ***** !!! We need more of our colonial history on stage to better understand today’s racism and eurocentrism…Great stage effects – light – sound/music … and three superb actors!” Sven Baake, Hamburg
“Tonight I watched Joseph Conrad meets Bertolt Brecht! Fantastic tuff.” Catherine Wilson, Crathes
“Please pass on my warmest congratulations to everyone involved in the brilliant production of Mungo Park: Travels in the Interior of Africa. It was an unforgettable Fringe experience! “ Stephen Telfer, Edinburgh
“Yesterday I was asked what my favourite theatre production was. I didn’t have one. Now I do.” Pupil, Nicholson Institute Stornoway
“A “words can’t express” night in Lochinver Village Hall as we experienced the show that is Mungo Park – Travels in the Interior of Africa.
If it’s playing near you, then make sure you don’t miss it! Amazing… exhausting… exhilarating…sad… tragic…silly… and extremely funny!”
Dorell Pirie, Lochinver on Facebook
THE PLAY
Dogstar was delighted to work with one of Scandinavia’s most innovative and popular independent theatre companies, Mungo Park Theatre to bring a highly entertaining and epic adventure story to audiences – the story of the Scottish explorer Mungo Park.
In 1795 and 1805, Park led two expeditions to West Africa to chart the River Niger and investigate tales of vast gold wealth. Park died on the 2nd expedition, along with nearly all of his party. His journal survived. The play is a tragi-comic retelling of the story, with the 18th century figure of Park interacting with two young men from today. As the story moves towards its latter stages, the folly of Park’s project, its development into an ever more crazy and violent colonial adventure is exposed. A rip-roaring entertainment and a tale of adventure, colonial arrogance, courage and friendship.
Martin Lyngbo and Anne Sophie Fogedby saw Dogstar’s The Tailor of Inverness at the Arches Theatre in Glasgow at the end of 2010. Just over 2 years later, we presented the show in Denmark and Sweden for them with great success and Martin came up with the idea for this co-production – a Danish play about a significant Scot. Arriving at the point of starting rehearsals took some persistence. We think it has been well worth it. I hope you do too. I am delighted to celebrate with you the meeting of minds and cultures this collaboration represents and the development of Dogstar into a truly European, international theatre company from Scotland. Skål ! Matthew Zajac
Director's Note
The story of Mungo Park in Danish theatre goes back to 1992 when a small playhouse bearing his name opened just north of Copenhagen. Mungo Park Theatre quickly grew to become an important stage for new writing and talent for the Scandinavian stage. In 2005 I was given the opportunity to take over leadership and I read the diaries of Mungo Park out of curiosity. Who was this Scot with the strange sounding name? I remember reading it in Austria and off the pages poured the most magnificent story. It was like watching a Hollywood blockbuster.
So in 2006 we produced an early version of the play in Danish. It was developed after extensive research including two weeks of travelling in the footsteps of Mungo Park through Mali in Western Africa. It was about youthful dreams and the meeting of worlds. It was about idealism and exploration turning into war and colonisation. We rehearsed during the Danish caricature crisis and that debate sort of framed our work. But the Hollywood association also stayed with us through the rehearsals. We felt that we wanted to create a Hollywood blockbuster for the inner eye of everyone in the audience. We wanted to beat Hollywood and prove theatre mightier than the movies.
The early Danish version of the show was in repertoire until 2009. From the beginning we thought that maybe one day we could revise and reproduce in English but we didn’t find the right people to do it with. Not until we saw Dogstar Theatre playing in Glasgow in 2010. We immediately felt that this small but brilliant and hardworking touring company was close to our way of working. We invited Dogstar to perform in Denmark on two occasions. And we started talking about this co-production.
And here we are. Years have gone by. We have taken a new perspective on the material so the English language show is very different from the early Danish version. We send this expedition out into the world with our hearts full of excitement and hope, just like the patrons of Mungo Park sent him towards adventure and exploration into the unknown. Martin Lyngbo
CAST
Matthew Zajac
Anders Budde Christensen
Kingsley Amadi
Directed by Martin Lyngbo
Written by Martin Lyngbo and Thor Bjorn Krebs
Designer Palle Steen Christensen
Composer Marcus Aurelius Hjelmborg
Lighting Jakob Rasmussen
Production Managers – Bjarne Jorgensen & Sholto Bruce
Stage Manager – Eric Morel
Technician – Peter Schoring
Assistant Director – Tamara Mathiesen
Mungo’s Costume by – Barbara Grant & Ali Maclaurin
Producers – Anne Sophie Fogedby, Jakob Holm, Donna Macrae & Matthew Zajac
Marketing & Publicity – Marie Louise Rolfes
Press – Liz Smith
Graphic Design – Jon Kort
Education Leader – Lucy McGlennon, Eden Court Creative
Administrative Asst. – Lara McDonald
MP Secretary – Ditte Falkenberg
TOURING VENUES
2016 Scotland
Summerhall Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Eden Court Theatre
Portsoy Church Hall
Stirling Tolbooth
Birnam Arts
Carlops Village Hall
Kemnay Village Hall
Newton Dee Phoenix Centre
Crathes Village Hall
Aberdeen Lemon Tree Arts Centre
Dufftown Mortlach Memorial Hall
Musselburgh Brunton Theatre
Tobermory Mull Theatre
Isle of Skye Sabhal Mor Ostaig
Lochinver Village Hall
Stornoway An Lanntair
Peebles Eastgate Theatre
Selkirk Victoria Hall
2017 Denmark
Copenhagen Stage Festival, Betty Nansen Theatre
Allerod Mungo Park Theatre
Odense Momentum Theatre
Kolding Mungo Park Theatre
2018 Netherlands
Leeuwarden European Capital of Culture, De Harmonie Theatre
