Event info

SUNNEFA – WAS SHE A HEROINE, A VICTIM OR A BITCH? Sunnefa Jónsdóttir was twice sentenced to death by drowning in early eighteenth-century Iceland. She was accused of having given birth to her younger brother’s children, first when she was sixteen years old and again when she was eighteen. At the High Court in 1743 she declared that the true father of her second child was none other than the District Commissioner who had sentenced her. How could a young peasant girl muster up the courage to challenge the high and ruling society? What gave her the strength?

On stage, two actresses of the Theatre Group Svipir tell and embody the incredible story of Sunnefa. They have read and studied all available data and seek to piece together the life of this young woman who lived such misfortunes. Who was the true father of her child? What was the risk of telling the truth under such a harsh regime? Who were these “wretched women” that were drowned in pits, often for less than petty crimes? The actresses plunge deeper, put themselves in Sunnefa’s shoes and bring her story to life on the stage.