Last year I wondered if the H. C. Andersen
Festival here in Odense, Denmark, would be a one-off, as it was sponsored by
local businessmen and had a lot of “teething problems”. Now I know that it
wasn’t, as this year the festival returned from August 17th to
August 24th, even with an “s” in the end (Festivals), but unfortunately the problems
returned, too.
Like last year, the festival(s) was
squeezed in between the Odense Flower Festival and the Odense Film Festival OFF
in August, making it a bit overwhelming if you want to attend all three
festivals. Again there were no big screens at the big events, so people
standing in the back couldn’t see anything. Worst of all, the city centre was
once more closed for public transportation during the festival making it
difficult to get from one venue to another and impossible to live an ordinary
day to day life if you happen to live in Odense.
At the moment the entire Odense City centre
is being turned into a huge pedestrian zone, so there is just one bus route
left through town, and it only operates between 11 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. but not
during weekends. This way you can’t go to town during evenings and weekends
unless you are able to walk long distances, and I for one am not. During the
festival, this bus route was even closed, so you couldn’t get there at all, and
personally I had to rely on friends, taxis and long-distance coaches just to
get near some of the events. Most of them, especially the ones during evenings
I just had to skip.
Like last year I had picked three things
that I wanted to see:
1. The big light show at the town hall facade
made by "We Create Magic"
2. Theatre Gyda's Pink People street theatre
performances
3. Italian acrobats eVènti Verticali’s
performance on high walls
I’d seen all three of these last year and
been VERY impressed by them, so I couldn’t wait to go again, but even before I
got out of the door, I had to cancel my attendance to the eVènti Verticali
performance. No one could take me and as the show was rather late in the evening,
I would not be able to get back on my own. I was SO disappointed, as I’d waited
a year to see the talented Andrea and Luca Piallini brothers, so please,
please, if you return in 2015, get a slot during daytime!!! Anyway, I had to pick
a new number 3 and I chose the 3D street art by Dutch artist Leon Keer.
The lightshow by “We Create Magic” had been
amazing last year with 3D photos and animations screened onto the town hall,
making it come to life. At one point the town hall had been smashed by a giant and
at another it had sprouted legs and walked away. I had never seen anything like
it, it was pure magic, so although the performance was at 10.30 p.m. with no
public transportation, I had persuaded my sister to take me. We arrived an hour
early and found a good place to sit (most of the town square is standing room
only) and at 10.30 p.m. some nameless musicians performed for 15 minutes, after
which the show started. If you have never seen this kind of 3D light show
before, you’d probably be impressed, but if you saw it last year, you wouldn’t.
It only lasted 10 minutes instead of 30, where the town hall changed colours a
few times, some small “clips” from “The Little Match Girl” and “Silly Hans”
(“Jack the Dullard”) were shown and most impressively: Hans Christian Andersen
himself went in and out through the walls. The whole thing ended with a single
live trumpeter standing in the spotlight on top of the town hall, playing the
song “Denmark, my Native Land” with lyrics by Hans Christian Andersen, the
audience expected to sing along. It was rather kitschy, so I can only give the
entire show 4 out of 5 stars: ****
Luckily the Pink People street theatre was
as good as last year. Once again the stereotypical Pink People marched all over
town from one venue to the other under the strict guidance of a pink
policewoman and stopping from time to time to applaud the shops and the
pedestrians. I only watched them perform as a choir this year, though, as I was
unable to attend their theatre shows, but they were still amazingly good. This
year it was the transvestite, who impressed me the most, though, as he was
hilarious. 5 out of 5 stars: *****
My “replacement” 3, the 3D street art by
Leon Keer, was very impressive as well. Keer did a painting of The Little
Mermaid, and I saw the work both in progress and as a finished painting. The 3D
effect was amazing, so when you stood on the marked viewing point, the figures
just popped up from the street. Again 5 out of 5 stars: ***** (on the left photo
you can see the artist Leon Keer standing next to his painting).
Despite the lack of transportation, I managed
to catch five other events. One of the best was the “HCA’s Stories”, which were animated short films
with laser and smoke effects, but I only managed to see the daytime show, as I
couldn’t get to the “darker” evening screenings for grown-ups. Another great
thing was the “H. C. Andersen bus and train storyteller raid” where
storytellers raided busses and trains during daytime and told Andersen fairy
tales. I managed to hear “What the old man does is always right” and I truly
enjoyed it. Very enjoyable was the Habengoods Street Stomp too, where the
Habengood boys played songs and beats on everything but drums! Very funny and
talented. I’ll give them as well as the storytellers and the short stories 4
out of 5 stars.
The last
couple of events I can’t rate that high. One was the censored art exhibition in
the Art Exhibition Building that was just as awful as last year. The other was
the art street with only very little art including the exhibition in Gallery
Rasmus that showed paintings from last year’s exhibition among other things. 3
out of 5 stars to the art street, but only 2 to the censored art exhibition.
I would like
to point out that there was a lot of shows and performances I would have loved
to see, but they were all during the evening, so I couldn’t go. I’ve heard
amazing things about “The Nightingale” shadow show, “The Little Mermaid”
international artists show. The outdoor theatre play “Ole Lukoeje” (“Mr.
Sandman”) and the ballet “My home is the Universe”, but unfortunately there was
no way I could get to them. All in all there were not as many different shows
and events like last year, though, as last year there were 270, this year there
were about 60, which were repeated over and over again several times a day,
each day. On the other hand, most of the events this year had something to do
with Hans Christian Andersen. They hadn’t last year. To sum up: I didn’t find the
festival(s) as interesting as last year, but it was okay except for the lack of
public transportation. So dear festival makers and public transportation
planners, please get together and sort this out before next year!
