SATAN by Iggy Malmborg
In SATAN, Swedish actor and theatre-maker Iggy Malmborg tells the supposedly true story of his short life and his problem in six chapters and a prologue. It is a bumpy journey that takes him from a deeply Christian family in the Swedish countryside, through friendships, sins and homelessness, to TOU in Stavanger. It unfolds the story of a hero who tries to become a villain but fails.
SATAN could be seen as an homage to the ancient form of oral storytelling, in which a solo performer’s body and voice are the sole means of transporting the audience to faraway places. But at the same time, something or someone lurks in the shadows…
SATAN is dedicated to the function of illusion. Illusion as a momentary, pleasurable escape, but also as an elemental tool for creating stability and wholeness in reality itself. Whoever dedicates themselves to the subject of illusion must also talk about truth. In the cosmos of this piece, truth is an instance that reveals itself through a structure of fiction.
Malmborg’s aesthetic style in his previous works is characterised by fragmentation and repetition. But in SATAN, he will, for the first time, tell a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, in exactly that order. But what does it mean to tell a story? Does this act ever go beyond the mere event of self-design?
SATAN is the story of a hero who tries to become a villain, but fails. Follow him on a bumpy journey from a deeply Christian family in the Swedish countryside, through friendships, sins and homelessness, to TOU’s stage. An homage to the ancient art of oral storytelling, bringing the audience to faraway places.
Credits
Written and performed by: Iggy Malmborg
Dramaturg: Johan Jönson
Lighting design: Ulrich Ruchlinski
Choreography: Seb Persson
Production manager: Elisabeth Carmen Gmeiner
Assistant: Agnes Stecher
Co-production: Schauspiel Leipzig, Frascati Theater and BIT Teatergarasjen
In collaboration with: Inkonst, Stamsund Teaterfestival, Reykjavík Dance Festival and Dansstationen
Supported by: Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Malmö City and Ammodo (Netherlands)
Short biography
Iggy Malmborg’s main artistic interest is in using the performance event as a model onto which the discourse of the piece can be directly applied. Since 2014, he has been producing a longer cycle of works that delve into the theatrical machine, taking it apart and analysing each element separately, often informed by psychoanalytic thought.
Among these works are Physics and Phantasma, on fantasy; Iris, pupil, retina, etc., on sight; and SATAN, on illusion. In 2026, he premieres the concluding piece of the cycle, Sortistycken, a work about endings.
From 2009 to 2016, he was also part of the theatre duo White on White.
Over the years, Malmborg’s work has gained international recognition and has been celebrated for presenting complex intellectual discourse in a concrete way, filled with humour and warmth. In 2023, he created his first work in Swedish, the series Försök #1–3 [essays/attempts], for Gothenburg City Theatre, and in 2025 he premiered Mot Slutet, his first work directed towards children.
