I am a slow Swiss, constantly teared between the tropics and the taiga. Physical theatre and mime are my life.
I grew up in Chur, in the mountains of Graubuenden in Switzerland. In the Kantonsschule Chur I got a Swiss teacher’s diploma. I worked one year in a mountain primary school and moved thereafter to Paris and studied at Jacques Lecoq’s school “Mime, theatre, movement” (diploma 1967).
In Paris I got the Asean Theare Schock, watching a Kabuki performance. Since then, my interest in theatre are stylisation and exaggeration of movement, characters, actions and emotions. The search for theatre beyond psychology and the work with mime (European and Asian), masks and mudras became my trademark.
In 1967 I presented my first solo production “Mimotheater”, with masks by Erhard Stiefel, Paris (first-night: St. Gallen/Switzerland, tours in Switzerland) and 1969 Clown en Jupe, (first-night: Basel, Switzerland) as first female clown in Switzerland and tours in Switzerland. In the same time, I studied a few years at the university of Basle physiology and philosophy.
I moved 1970 to Sweden, were 1971 my son Björn Lancelot was born.
I worked at the Drama departments of the Universities of Uppsala and Stockholm (1971-1980) and the Theatre Academy of Sweden 1976- 80 (stage acrobatics, mime, improvisation and mask).
I founded and directed a professional experimental theatre group, Wulf-theatre (Vargteatern 1972- 1977) in Uppsala.
Main productions: Brecht: Der Jasager und der Neinsager at Pistolteatern in Stockholm. This mask production was especially acclaimed by Hanserik Hjertén, then leading Swedish theatre critic, as “to dust off Swedish theatre”.
I studied several years directing as assistant of the well-known Stanislavskian Rumanian director Radu Penciulescu and co- directed for Wulf Theatre (Edda: The Myth of Balder and Fernando Arrabal: Alla Arabiens parfymer).
Teaching at the Theatre Academy of Sweden in Stockholm, I got confronted with other working methods. I could study and practice at close quarters: the Brechtian methods of Rudi Penka from the Theatre Academy of East Berlin and the physical work of his assistant Hilde Buchwald. Through several workshops in Holstebro, I got also introduced and influenced into the work methods of Jerzy Grotowski and Eugenio Barba.
Between 1967 and 2017 I conducted countless workshops in physical theatre, stage acrobatics, clowning, mime and pantomime and female impersonation in Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Poland and India (Kerala and Telangana) as well as in China.
After 1980 I studied for 8 months maskdance on Bali with (I Pande Martha) and Legong (with Ni Ketut Arini) and voice techniques of puppeteers (with I Deva Sayang).
1980 moved to Germany and worked as director for the City theatre of Essen fort two years. Main productions directed: Tångeberg: Alice Im Wunderland der Zeche Carl; Suzanne Osten: Prinz Sorgenfrei; Tångeberg, der Drachenbeisser, Oswaldo Dragun, Chalk Circle for Children; Lindgren: Limo, Dartanjang und Negerkuss; Tångeberg: Ich und du und der Himalay, mm.
1982 I moved to Finland, worked as director of dramas, dance theatre and operas in theatre institutions, and worked at the Theatre Academy as pedagogue (acrobatics, physical expression, mime, improvisation, commedia dell’arte) and directed: Buchner, Woyzeck; Edda-Tångeberg: Stormtid-Vargtid, Edda-Tångeberg: Öl, Ibsen, Per Gynt.
Worked as freelance director in Finland 1982-1990, 1993-1997, 2000-2002.
1985 I presented Miss Lonelyheart's Metamorphoses, a solo production with Basle Carneval masks (firstnight: Helsinki, tours in Finland and Germany).
Most important productions in Finnish institution theatres were: Shakespeare, Twelfth Night ( Åbo Svenska Teatern), Paper flowers, Åbo Svenska teatern) Lemminkäisen tie (Kuopion kauppunginteatteri) This production was awarded with the first price of Tampere Theatre Summer 1985; Kalidasa, Sakuntala (Kuopion kaupunginteatteri), Shakespeare, Midsummernight’s dream (Kajaanin kaupunginteatteri), Tirso de Molina, Don Gil (Tampereen theatteri); Beaumarchais, Figaron häät (Joensuun kaupunginteatteri); Labiche: L’affaire dela rue d’Ourcine (Joensuun kaupunginteatteri; Lorca, Maria Pineda (Mikkelin kaupunginteatteri); Shakespeare: Macbeth (Mikkelin kaupunginteatteri); Eduardo de Filippo: Napoli Milionaria (Jväskylan kaupunginteatteri); Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra (Tampereen teatteri); Melville/Valo: Moby Dick (tours in Finland and Denmark); Kollektive: Den Gula Dagen, Vasa Swedish theatre; mm.
Dance Theatre: Viva La Frida (Svenska Teatern, Helsinki); Ellen Thesleff’s Journey to the Light at Zodiak theatre, Helsinki (with Ari Tenhula and Liisa Pentti, visualisation by Riina Ahonen).
Opera and music productions: Mozart: The Magic Flute, (with conductor Pekka Haapasalo, Joensuun Opera); Strauss: The Bat, (with conductor Hannu Koivula, Joensuun Opera); Teuvo Pakkala, The Lumberjacks, (Rovaniemen Kauppunginteatteri); Stravinskij, The Sacrifice, (with the conductor Hannu Koivula, Vaasan Kauppunginorkesteri).
During 1982 - 2014 I lived for longer periods in Kerala, India, were I studied kathakali (with Krishnan Namboothiri and later Narippatta Narayana), mohiniyattam (with Kalamandalam Ksemavati and Kalamandalam Husnabanu) bharatanatyam (with Kalamandalam Ksemavati) and 2000- 20014 kutiyattam (with Usha Nangyar). I directed in Kerala - Ramanath, Renu, 2014: The Matriarch of Malayalam Theatre. Available at: http://Keralatheatre.blogspot.fi/2014/the-matriarch-of-malayalam/theatre.html - for the school of drama of Calicut University Sophocles: Antigone; Brecht: Exception and the Rule; Brecht: Mahagonny; Dragun: Caucasian Chalk Circle for Children; The Tales of Krsna, (dance production with Raju Narippatta); St. Exupery, The Little Prince; Jarry, Ubu Roi. I directed also: Shakespeare, The Tempest (in the village of Karalmanna).
1989-2001 director at Rovaniemi City Theatre: Tångeberg: The Big White Reindeer (tours in Lapland and Russia); Teuvo Pakkala: The Lumberjacks; Lorca, Yerma; Euripides: The Bacchae (with the rockband Jalla-Jalla); comedies as: Lent me a tenor; and 1990-1992 for “La Tarantula Theatre” in Rovaniemi, Finland, Tångeberg: Love in Honey and Ashes; Tångeberg: Tristan and Isolt (tours in Norway, Sweden and Danmark).
In between Flamenco studies in Sevilla and Granada (Mariquilla).
1996-1999 director at Kemin Kaupunginteatteri Tchekov, Cherry Orchard; Visniec, Work for Clowns; Jukka O.Miettinen: Siddhartha, Prinssi Valoa etsimässä; Chapman, Key for Two; Tennessee Williams, Käärmennahkatakki (The Fugitive Kind); Tångeberg/Airo, Isä, isä (with Marketta Airo); mm.
1994 I presented a new solos: Hidden Paradise, Maria Sibylla Merian’s travel to the djungle of Surinam, visualisation by Riina Ahonen (first-night in Edmonton, Canada, tours in Finland).
1998 solo :Tångeberg, The Wedding Night of Holy Theresa, (visualisation by Riina Ahonen, first-night at Helsinki Autumn Festival, tours in Finland and in Kerala, India).
During these years I conducted countless lecture-demonstrations and workshops for theatre schools and theatre institutions.
2002 I founded and led a 4-years bachelor course in physical theatre at the Novia (University for Applied Arts in Vaasa, Finland) as director and main lecturer. Performances directed as: Euripides, Orestes; Shakespeare, Midsummernight’s dream (tours in Kerala, India); Tångeberg: Travels of Marco Polo; Dumas: The three Musketeers; Stravinskjj, Våroffret (with Vasa city orchestra); Euripides, The Bacchae; Schulz-Strindberg-Tångeberg, Dreamt; Igor Stravinskij, The Sacrifice (with the conductor Hannu Koivula, Vaasan Kauppunginorkesteri).
Directed some productions in Germany with Kurtheater Bitterfeld, Dessau: Tångeberg: Mein Blauer Reiter (with the master dancer Thomas Hartmann as Franz Marc and the actress Regula Steiner-Tomic´ as Else Lasker-Schüler, Bauhaus Dessau); Tångeberg: Zucker, Liebe, Licht (history of Dessau, at castle of Mosigkau and Kochhaus in Dessau); Tångeberg: Blaue Sterne, (Olecko and Milanovec, Poland).
Master of Theatre Arts with “The Mask as a Tool for the Actor’s Mimesis: Background, Method and Didactics” 2004.
2001- 2015 I stayed for long periods in Kerala, India, doing research in physical acting and mudras.
2008 Demonstrations of kutiyattam: Complete mudras of Hastalakshanadeepika, Ramayanasamksepam, Kamsavadham and Putanamoksham For William (The emotion of valsalya in mohiniyattom and mime); all at the Theatre Academy of Finland, Helsinki.
2009: solo: The Tales of Mnemosyne-Narcissus (Helsinki, Finland) French “White pantomime”.
2011 Doctor in Theatre Arts 2011 with The Techniques of Gesture Language. A Theory of Practice at the Arts University of Helsinki, Finland.
I presented also research papers on topics on movement in Asian classical theatre in Helsinki (Finland), Lodz (Poland), Barcelona (Spain), Stockholm (Sweden), Thrissur (India) and Beijing (China).
2012- 15 I studied at NACTA, the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts as senior student female acting techniques: kunju (with Wang Shaoyan) and Lvju (with Li Yanhua) theory of Chinese opera (Zhou Long).
Recent productions in India: 2014: Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, (Srisankaraacharya University of Sanskrit, Kaledi). 2015: Haunted Earth (Mahabharata, with Ajit Kannan, Prasanth Namboothiri and Narippatta Raaju for Natya Shastra, Katambaripuram, Kerala, tours in Kerala) and Porugalli, Shakespeare’s Tempest in Telangana (City Hall, Hyderabad)
Since 2016 I live as freelancer in Berlin.
2017: Masksolo: Daughter from the House of Flying Sleeves (firstnight at Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte).
Recent direction: Tångeberg: “The World is a Big Cat - Världen är en stor katt” (childhood and adolescence of Nikola Tesla, for Azotti Theatern, Stockholm, Sweden).
Teaching
1976-1980 Teacher at the Theatre Academy of Sweden (acrobatics, physical expression, mime and mask)
1971-1979 Teacher/lecturer at the University of Uppsala
1976-1979 Teacher/lecturer at the University of Stockholm
1980-2002 Teacher/lecturer at the University of Arts, Helsinki
2002-2011 Founder/director/lecturer of the Department of Physical Theatre at NOVIA- University of Applied Arts and Sciences, Vaasa, Finland