The Mayor Who Put A Polar Bear In Every School

Sound incredible? Well, that scenario actually happened in Iceland. Jón Gnarr Kristinsson was an actor and comedian who became so fed up with Iceland's politicians he decided to stand for office.

He formed the Best Party with a number of others who had no background in politics and his satirical political party set out to parody Icelandic politics.

His manifesto? Simple. To make the lives of life of the citizens more fun.

And given the public's displeasure with government and its officials, Jón Gnarr won and became the Mayor of Reykjavík.

Now, his story is being told this week at Oran Mor in new play Hoorah For All Kinds of Everything.

It features Rebecca Elise, Jamie Scott Gordon and Sandy Nelson.

Sandy, who also wrote the play, explains why the Icelandic story simply had to be taken to the stage.

"I was a fan of Jón Gnarr since I saw him on his BBC 4 sitcom, The Night Shift," he recalls. "He wrote and starred in the show playing this socially inept clown and I loved it.

"Then a few months later I read a newspaper article telling how he had become Mayor. My first reaction was 'No way!' and then I found myself reading the detail of his journey from comedian to politician."

The comedians concerns for the future of his country began in 2008 when Iceland's economy crashed. It created terror. The politicians didn't have the answers. And so Jón Gnarr became the dissident voice of the people.

But he was also acting from self-interest. He realised the arts funding budgets were being slashed. Actors were seen to be worthless.

"What he did was come at the political process from a laughter point of view," says Sandy. "He got himself onto political programmes and brought humour to the debate, even though at the time he knew next to nothing about politics.

"And although he was joking around at first, once he got into the political mix, and realised how much disdain the politicians had for artists, he began to hold his own."

More importantly, Jon Gnarr was listened to. And the Best Party ran in earnest.

Rebecca Elise stars as Jón Gnarr's political partner, Heida Helgadottir. "You'll be amazed by some of the detail in the play, some of the stunts the Best Party got up to," she offers, smiling. "But what's incredible is they all happened."

As Mayor, Jon Gnarr, a former bass player in a punk band, released a Christmas greetings video in which he was dressed in drag. One of his first election promises was free towels in all swimming pools.

"Imagine Nicola Sturgeon wearing a nose ring to Parliament or Jim Murphy in a Motorhead t-shirt. That's the sort of impact the Best Party had in Iceland," says Sandy.

Rebecca concurs; "The Best Party changed Iceland. And hopefully this play will really entertain, and make us all think about the fact politics shouldn't be about image, it should be about content."

Upon being elected, Jón announced that he would not enter a coalition government with anyone that had not watched the HBO series, The Wire.

"But then he also said he promised to break all the promises he made," says Sandy, grinning.

Rebecca plays "She was the brains and the focus behind his ability to make people laugh. They needed each other."

The story of the Best Party is told through a series of sketches.

"Myself and Jamie are multi-rolling," says Rebecca. "I play journalists and a previous mayor, and this helps with the sketches.

"As a result, I feel it's quite surreal and bizarre - and off the wall - I feel it's very Pythonesque. It's really anarchic."

She adds; "Audiences who come to see this show won't know anything about this character, but we can see everything which happens on stage happened in real life."

Clowns and politics aren't entirely strange bedfellows. Think Beppe Grillo in Italy and the Pirate Party in Berlin and Boris Johnson in London

However, Sandy explains the Best Party had a serious impact in Icelandic politics. It began to simply jolt politicians into realising how aloof they had become.

And it marked the way for change.

"The party set up e-voting, for small measures," he says. "It meant people could go on on-line and decide which swing park design they wanted. And I think the concept will grow."

The Best Party emerged because the people of Iceland were afraid. They needed guidance. They needed hope.

But what happened to the comedy Mayor? Did he buy into the system? Did he end up as affected as every other politician? Did the schools ever get a polar bear?

And what happened to his partner in politics? Has Iceland moved in the direction of electing female politcians who don't have 'Lego' hair and have to wear business suits.

"The play will reveal all," says Sandy, smiling.

Rebecca agrees; "And have the audience laughing. Which is what Jón Gnarr would have wanted.

* Hoorah For All Kinds of Everything, Oran Mor, until Saturday.