Exit-Pieces

An exit is the process of leaving a certain context and entering a different one, marking the border between inside and outside, here and there. Exploring the theatrical exit, the Swedish actor and theatre maker Iggy Malmborg opens up a broader discourse on ending, escaping and leaving.

It is about exiting as a way of refusing, about not accepting your fate and leaving the space. Or, on the contrary, exiting might be about being pushed away by an external force, being uprooted from the context only to find oneself in a situation of fleeing. But most of all, “Exit Piece” (WT) deals with the itchy need to escape existence as a whole. But what if there is no outside? What if we are tied to our situation with no way of fleeing anywhere? In that case, is our fantasy of a different, better place nothing but a restoring apparatus that keeps us in place?

In an extended cycle of extremely entertaining pieces, Malmborg examines the aesthetic mechanisms of the stage, disassembling them and analysing each individual part. Over the past decade, he created a series where he looked at different specific aspects of the theatre in each production: “b o n e r” about objects, “Physics and Phantasma” about imagination, “Things in my mouth” about the voice, “Iris, pupil, retina etc.” about vision and “SATAN” about illusion. “Exit Piece” (WT) will mark the conclusion of this cycle.

In this show, the topic of ending is read through the story of the theatre and its aesthetic development, with the suspicion that this might be the terminal point of deconstruction. Instead of continuing to expand the theatre, “Exit Piece” (WT) begins an implosion. The fourth wall is restored, performers encounter each other as actors, relationships emerge.

In his work, Iggy Malmborg translates complex artistic discourses into concrete performative events with plenty of humour and warmth. His plays have been successful across Europe; at Residenz, he produced the play “SATAN” in 2023.