In the final stretch of the 2025 Tallinn Fringe Festival, I made my way to Improteater IMPEERIUM for a second night running to see David Valley’s History of the Faroe Islands (Please don’t laugh). The name’s been anglicised from the Faroese Dávur í Dali, who’s based in Iceland and traveled to Tallinn Fringe with his friend and opener (whose solo show was the next night’s From Ice to Insanity), Eggert Sigurðsson. The venue this evening was set with rows extending to the back of the room, filled with a blend of languages, amongst lovers, strangers and friends, all at some elevation from the performers. A white projection screen hung at the back of the stage, a guitar off to the side in front of a tall table set with a laptop.
Sigurðsson, an Iceland native, warmed the crowd up through tales of the trials of travel, aging, and dating. He blended anecdotes, observations, and crowd work to highlight absurdities of life and remind us that sometimes hell IS other people, just not how we’d expect. He also poked a bit of fun at Valley to help prepare us, because while Sigurðsson’s set was straightforward stand-up, what came next was an altogether different beast.
A sparkling presence, Valley’s show was framed as a boring academic lecture (see the parentheses in the show title) and so it was, to some extent. Affably accurate-but-imprecise, he served as an enjoyably unreliable tutor, using the lecture as a framework to spin off into a blend of gameshow, prop comedy, and improvisational music. Centred on the relative obscurity of the Faroe Islands, he was both informative and wry, getting the crowd to play games, offer insights, and compare languages and cultures. At its core was a daffily illustrated slideshow, designed to be the focus when necessary (such as showing stereotypes via classic Icelandic advertising) and fading into the background as Valley switched up the format again. Woven through with historical facts and personal legends, this was a charming, well-paced audiovisual treat.
Author: Laurie
Laurie likes alliteration, ambiance, and lists with three things.
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