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Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson (born 1987) is an award-winning Icelandic playwright whose works have been performed in Iceland, Europe, and North America. Born and raised in Kópavogur, Iceland—the town where all his plays are set—Tyrfingur studied at the Iceland University of the Arts, Janáček Academy in Brno, Czech Republic, and Goldsmiths, University of London. His plays have been staged at several theatres, including the Reykjavík City Theatre, the National Theatre of Iceland, the Stefan Żeromski Theatre in Poland, the KOM Theatre in Helsinki, and the Théâtre de Quat’Sous in Montreal, Canada. His works have also been featured at renowned festivals, including the Avignon Festival and La Mousson d’été in France.

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Tyrfingur’s breakthrough came with his graduation piece, Grande (2011), which earned him recognition in Reykjavík and a nomination for the Icelandic Performing Arts Awards (Gríman). This was followed by Blue Eyes, which premiered at the Reykjavík City Theatre and led to his appointment as a resident playwright. The French translation of Blue Eyes, titled Bleus, was featured at the Avignon Festival in 2018 and La Mousson d’été in 2019. His play The Potato Eaters received critical acclaim, with Icelandic critic Jakob S. Jónsson hailing Tyrfingur as Iceland’s preeminent playwright. The play was featured at Théâtre 13 in Paris during the Island, terre de théâtre festival in 2019, performed at the Panorama Roma Festival in 2020, and streamed by the Drama Theatre of Warsaw (Teatr Dramatyczny). A Dutch translation, De Aardappeleters, was published in 2021, followed by an Italian edition, I mangiatori di patate, in 2022.

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In 2020, Helgi Comes Apart premiered at the Reykjavík City Theatre to rave reviews, with critics praising Tyrfingur’s ability to “raise the audience’s blood pressure.” The play was selected by the Bureau des Lecteurs de la Comédie-Française in 2021 and won Play of the Year at the Gríman Awards in 2020. A French translation, Quand Helgi s'est tu, was published in 2021, and the play was featured at Festival Regards Croisés in Grenoble in 2023. In 2024, it was performed at the Stefan Żeromski Theatre in Kielce, Poland, with a premiere scheduled at the Théâtre de Quat’Sous in Montreal in April 2025.

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Tyrfingur’s Seven Fairytales of Shame ran for a year at the National Theatre of Iceland, receiving 12 Gríman nominations and winning 6 awards, including Play of the Year. The play premiered at the KOM Theatre in Helsinki in September 2024, where it sold out 45 performances. His latest work, Lúna (English title: The Beauty Show), premiered at the Reykjavík City Theatre in January 2024 and is currently running. In spring 2024, The Beauty Show was named one of the fifteen most interesting contemporary plays in the world by an international committee under Theater Info in Helsinki and will be featured in the upcoming edition of Playwrighting with Purpose, published by Routledge.

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Beyond theatre, Tyrfingur has made contributions to film and television. His first film script, Villibráð (co-written with director Elsa María Jakobsdóttir), premiered in January 2023 and became the highest-grossing Icelandic film in history. He was also the co-creator and writer of the TV series Descendants, produced by Lumière in Belgium and Freyja Film Works, which was nominated for the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize at the Gothenburg Film Festival in 2024.

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Tyrfingur’s plays have been translated into German, Polish, French, English, Finnish, Italian, and Dutch, and published in book form in several countries. A three-time Gríman winner, Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson is a leading voice in contemporary theatre. He currently lives in Amsterdam.