Hvad blev der af Julemandshæren? Om arkivering af flygtige scenekunstformer

Resumé

Anna Lawaetz: Whatever Happened to the Santa Claus Army?
On Archiving Ephemeral Theatre Forms

Since the 1960s there has been a paradigm shift in the theatre towards a post-dramatic
theatre, in which the playtext is not the most important basis for the staging but is part
of an interplay with other parameters such as visuals, sound, and movement. This poses
challenges to traditional archival strategies that rely on the playtext. New collection
strategies are required to ensure this cultural heritage is preserved.
This study takes as its starting point a work that goes beyond the unities of action,
time and place and challenges the collection strategies the most: The Santa Claus Army
(Julemandshæren) by the theatre group Solvognen (1968‑83). The performance took
place over five days in the Copenhagen area in December 1974, and was included in
the Cultural Canon in 2006 as an important contribution to Danish culture. The study
examines only records preserved at The Royal Danish Library due to the legal deposit
act, as the Special Collection Department made no further acquisitions. Two sources are
identified in the study: first, contemporary and subsequent recollections, and second,
works based on material from The Santa Claus Army that paraphrase the original. The
study compares the so-called repertoire, the oral narrative of the event, and the archival
records and highlights the differences. It furthermore shows how the re-staging of the
work in 2006 by a younger artist is based mainly on the so call repertoire.
The Santa Claus Army is well documented, although no playtext was collected. The
performance is unfortunately not representative as Solvognen systematically used the
media to promote and enlarge their work. The main scoop of this study is that it
shows how Solvognen are over-represented in contemporary and later media coverage
through the legal deposit act compared to other theatre groups in the 1970s. This calls
for reflections on collection strategies. A revision of the legal deposit act is proposed
as well as archival strategies known from other performing arts archives.