The School of Transformation Correspondence is based on a live performance “The School of Transformation” performed in Reykjavík in August 2011. The performance was a part of the Lokal International Theatre Festival and was a collaboration between Webtheatre Room 408 and Mobile Homes in Oslo.

”The School of Transformation” is a second part of the trilogy “Passing Place” by Mobile Homes . 

The School of Transformation was an interactive live performance that dealt with the Internet as a global playground for identity, consumerism and desire. It was staged as a school where the audience had to take on the role of a student and consisted of 5 lessons, each with different approach to the theme action and consequence.
The theme was investigated, considered and presented in a classroom situation through 3 platforms, The Physical Platform, The Virtual Platform and The Interactive Platform.

 The students enter a classroom where they watch demonstration, participate in discussions and solve tasks and exercises. They observe six characters, as they struggle in a hierarchic stage structure, that resembles a big treadmill.
The characters enter small cubicles that serve as homes or offices where they enter the virtual world of the Internet;  roaming the web, communicating with the other characters and making transactions of different kinds. The transactions are pretty simple. Something is bought and after a while it appears on stage: a pizza or a pair of shoes, a clown. Gradually the situation gets more intense and the communication inside and outside the cubicles becomes erratic, unpredictable even violent and the goods traded less and less tangible. A new lifestyle emerges; the characters start recreating their image, seeking access to forbidden fruits and stolen items. Finally, they enter a political landscape where national resources are up for sale and the stakes becomes extremely high. The actions on stage serve as a platform for discussions and tasks for the students/audience lead by the teachers/actors.

“The School of Transformation”

Concept, manuscript and direction  Steinunn Knútsdóttir and Zoe Christiansen.

Performers: Árni Pétur Guðjónsson, Ásrún Magnúsdóttir, Håkon Vassvik, Karl Flymann, Line Svendsen, Magnús Guðmundsson and Ólöf Ingólfsdóttir . 

Gueast appearance:  Katrín Oddsdóttir

Scenography
Móeiður Helgadóttir

Webdesign & photography
Snorri Gunnarsson

Film
Jón Þorgeir Kristjánsson

Light & Sound
Jóhann Bjarni Pálmarsson

Managing director
Ragnheiður Skúladóttir

Funded by Norsk Kulturråd, Kulturkontakt Nord, Fondet for Norsk Islandsk samarbejde and Reykjavik town.