Guðmundur Kamban

Guðmundur Kamban (1888 – 1945) was an Icelandic playwright. Born Guðmundur Jónsson he adopted the family name Kamban in 1908 and advocated a change in Icelandic naming conventions.

In 1914 he published his first play, Hadda Padda which was endorsed by Georg Brandes and shown in the Danish Royal Theatre with Kamban as assistant director. He later married an actress from the play, Agnete Egeberg.

In 1915 Kamban moved to New York, intending to establish himself as an English language writer. He was not successful and moved back to Copenhagen with his wife in 1917. In 1920 he achieved success at Dagmarteatret with We Murderers and was employed as a director at the theatre.

Kamban directed plays, wrot novels and produced motion pictures in Copenhagen until 1934 when he moves to London. Not finding success there he relocates to Berlin in 1935 and lives there until 1938 when he moves back to Copenhagen. During the German occupation of Denmark, Kamban received German research funding and came to be seen as a collaborator. On May 5 1945, as the German forces surrendered, Kamban was murdered at his home by Danish partisans.

References

• We murderers; a play in three acts
• The Project Gutenberg Etext of Hadda Padda
• Íslenskir leikhúsmenn
• Guðmundur Kamban