BOOK LAUNCH & PERFORMANCE READING: STAGES

In connection with the publication of “STAGES/SCENER" by Forlaget bastard, the artist group I-IR (Marie-Louise Stentebjerg, Ida Elisabeth Larsen, and Jonathan Bonnici) has developed a performance reading of the text, which will be part of the book launch at Husets Teater during the CPH STAGE festival on 28 May 2026 from 17:00–19:00.

As a text, “STAGES" unfolds as a series of charged visual fragments. Each one is a complete scene in itself, moving from the intimate to the infinite, from the interior of the body to the social corpus, from the everyday to the divine. It begins with a cleansing and moves through a choreographed progression toward emptiness, where everything dissolves. The stage, once populated, now stands empty; only the witnesses remain.

At Husets Teater, the text is brought to life in a performance by the author Jonathan Bonnici and actor Line Svendsen. Performed in English and Danish—interwoven, overlapping, colliding—the voices shift between dialogue and dissonance, clarity and cacophony.

“STAGES/SCENER" is a performative text in which the page becomes a stage. Although “STAGES/SCENER" functions as a theatrical text, it is in no way diminished by simply being read. In this case, the reader becomes director, scenographer, and actor, composing the piece in their mind’s eye.

“STAGES" is an original text in English by Jonathan Bonnici, with a Danish translation prepared by Lise Margrethe Jørgensen. The book is published by Forlaget bastard and produced by Forlaget bastard and Institute of Interconnected Realities with support from the Danish Arts Foundation.

“STAGES/SCENER" is the third publication in Forlaget bastard’s series of performance texts. The series has been developed with the aim of creating a space that enables the exploration, development, strengthening, and articulation of the performance text in its many diverse forms as its own mode of writing and literary genre.

Forlaget bastard is a specialised publishing platform and distribution channel that publishes performance texts from Danish experimental theatre, performance art, choreography, interdisciplinary art practices, and aesthetic intersections.

The book will be available for purchase at a special price during the event, and there will be a glass of wine and snacks.

The event is free but registration is required. You register here.