Baroness Blixen, the aging grand dame of literature, returns to NYC with a play about her love for a younger man and the re-awakening of the artist.

Art and desire are the heart and driving force of the Scandinavian American Theater Company’s production of The Baroness, written by Thor Bjørn Krebs, directed by Henning Hegland, and translated by Kim Dambæk. That, and a protagonist who claims she’s a witch, and has made a pact with Lucifer. The Baroness tells the story of the relationship between acclaimed writer Karen Blixen and her adopted protégé, the handsome young writer Thorkild Bjørnvig. I mention he’s handsome because Karen can’t help but notice herself; she becomes transfixed by Thorkild, and it empowers her and changes his life. She teaches him about art, unlocks his desire, and he must decide if he wants to be the man she has crafted. There’s a lot to learn from Baroness Blixen’s provocative ideas about art and living; the text is bristling with beautiful insights about the life of an artist and what it takes to succeed. Blixen is in fact a historical figure, the writer behind the Academy Award-winning stories Out of Africa and Babette’s Feast. The translation generally avoids the potholes of overly formal sentence structure, and the lessons are written with potency and elegance. These are imparted so well because they …Read more