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Time to celebrate

Now, more than twenty
years later, I wonder whether
it was fate or coincidence that
brought us to that table by the
lake, that table that to me
represents the beginning of
the Magdalena Project. I
went home that evening to
the school where we were
staying, with two small seeds
inside, that of the Magdalena
Project, and that of my first
child, and I did not know of
the existence of either of
them; the beginning of life
long relationships and
networks.

I have just come back from a journey to Thailand and
Cambodia to study theatre and to extend the network of
the Magdalena Project. Travelling helps one gain perspective. Seeing hundreds of young girls practising their classical dance at the University of Performing Arts in Phnom
Penh made an impression on me, and helped me reremember the beginnings, the simple basic pleasure of
work.
Now, in the first days of January, I find myself at
Odin Teatret, where we, the editorial board of The Open
Page have met for the last ten years, in the cold, snowy or
rainy days of winter in Scandinavia. As often we are
behind with work, as often we ask ourselves if we can go on
making the journal, as each of us has more than enough to
do with our own work, and we end up yet again deciding
on the theme of the next issue and when to meet, and that
we will try to find more time for the work and so on.
We work and work, and enjoy it, because we enjoy
each other’s company, and the feeling of doing a rewarding
piece of work. We laugh a lot.
My heart is in it, is one of our sayings… Being a
part of the Magdalena Project is one of my life-stones, and
who would have known that when we were just mouthing
off at a café table by Lago Bracciano in 1983? Theatre
brought us there, we, the then young European theatre
groups. My group, Grenland Friteater, had not been on
extensive tours in Italy before and it was all new, exciting
and exotic.
During the September days of l983, taking part in
Il Segreto di Alice, a collaborative festival, we got to know
the other groups, it was the beginning of many networks.
At the café tables at night we often met and talked. I
remember the particular night when one of us said: “You
know girls this will only mean trouble?” It was a response to
the suggestion that only we, the women of the groups,
should come together and work.
Now, more than twenty years later, I wonder
Theatre Women Milestones – Geddy Aniksdal
154
Geddy Aniksdal
Time to Celebrate
OP10-3.qxd 26-11-2019 15:10 Page 154
whether it was fate or coincidence that
brought us to that table by the lake, that
table that to me represents the beginning of
the Magdalena Project. I went home that
evening to the school where we were
staying, with two small seeds inside, that of
the Magdalena Project, and that of my first
child, and I did not know of the existence
of either of them; the beginning of life long
relationships and networks.
That the founder of the Magdalena
Project Jill Greenhalgh’s initial rage should
provide work and opportunities for
hundreds of women in theatre was something we did not know, but with hindsight
we might like to think that we all took part
in a vision whilst drinking our wine and
smoking our cigarettes at the café table that
evening.
Jill’s righteous indignation has
given many of us a lot of work and challenges and, more importantly, has woven
our often disparate activities into a strong
network that is now almost worldwide, as
the project has grown (and hopefully we
with it) and its ripple effects are multiple.
The young and wild women from
that café table are now being called the
grandmothers of the Magdalena Project,
and going with the modern times that
means even more work for us, and still no
place in the sun. But as our late colleague
Pernille Anker said: “Everything after
compulsory school is voluntary.”
The constructive feedback that we
get at The Open Page gives us the incentive
to go on, and it means a lot to have a young
actor struggling with an article for a long
time and finally have it printed. The actor’s
craft being so transient it is valuable to have
some record of our work there “forever”, as
we like to think of printed material.
To encourage a stronger percentage
of women artists to leave traces behind is
still an important motivation for our work.
And this year we celebrate the fact that we
are in the process of publishing the 10th
issue of this journal. An older colleague has
reminded us that ten editions are a little
milestone in itself. The journal had a difficult start, but that made us more determined to control as many aspects of the
work as possible, just as we control our
theatre work in general, a production that
we follow from idea to first night, which
then goes on to live its own life.
Self-appreciation can also come from the
heart. There, it is said, it is in the Open
(Page).
Do we have champagne?
Yes.
Will we drink it?
Yes.
Grandmothers can do as they please!
If Virginia Woolf could see us now, I hope
she would be proud too. We have made
rooms of our own.
Cheers!
The Open Page
155
GEDDY ANI