A Magical Theatre Home on the Danish Island of Møn

Sometimes a home lands in my inbox that completely stops me in my tracks.

Last week, these photographs arrived from the Danish island of Møn and, from the very first image, I knew this was somewhere rather special. The owners, Peter Kirk and Tilde Knudsen, are the creative force behind Asterions Hus, the theatre company they've run since 2003. Known for their imaginative interpretations of myths, fairy tales and classic literature, their productions are poetic, highly visual, sometimes a little grotesque, and always infused with humour. It doesn't take long to see how that wonderfully creative spirit has found its way into the place they call home.

Set close to the breathtaking white chalk cliffs of Møns Klint, this former village school has been transformed into far more than a house. It's a family home, a theatre, an artists' residence and a gathering place for creatives from around the world. Built in 1935, the school has lived many lives. After serving generations of local children, it became a refuge for Bosnian families in the 1990s before later evolving into a housing collective. Over the years it suffered neglect and even fire, but today Peter and Tilde have lovingly restored it, preserving its remarkable history while writing an inspiring new chapter.

What struck me most wasn't simply the beautiful old buildings, but the layers of stories woven throughout them. Antique treasures gathered from the French and Scandinavian countryside sit happily alongside theatrical props, artworks and cherished mementoes collected over a lifetime of making theatre. Every object seems to have earned its place, and every room has a story to tell.

Because this home is so deeply personal, I thought we'd do something a little different today. Rather than me doing all the talking, Peter and Tilde have kindly shared the stories behind many of the rooms, objects and spaces in their own words. It feels only fitting that two lifelong storytellers should guide us through this magical place themselves.

So, shall we take a peek behind the curtain?

"We use this as the theatre foyer whenever there are performances. We built the sink ourselves. There used to be a toilet here when the building was still a school, so the plumbing and drainage were already in place. Now we use it to make tea and coffee. The bell is rung to let everyone know it's time for the show to begin."

"Also in the foyer, the white piece is the top of a Bornholm clock. The rest found a second life as a prop in one of our theatre productions about Leonardo da Vinci."

"To the right, there is the entry into the dance space, and upstairs is the entry to our apartment and the kitchen."

"The mannequins in the entry for the dance space are props from a solo piece ‘My Room’."

"This is our office. We were performing at Icharia. We went around the island, exploring on a scooter, and found an abandoned school full of maps. We took as many maps as we could carry on a scooter. We felt very naughty!"

"Many of our pieces of furniture were spontaneous second-hand finds. It doesn't matter to us that it's antique - it's just important that it has personality. We had a big theatre van. We have taught each other that it's good to say yes. 'Grab it when you see it', instead of overthinking." 

"In Copenhagen, we have two good neighbours: the Royal Theatre warehouse, which often threw things out, hand-painted backdrops, etc. The other neighbour was a big second-hand furniture website, the B&W. We collected so many interesting items from them. In our theatre, we had audience seating for 70 people, just antique couches."

"This is our scenography workshop in an old classroom, you can see where the heightened platform for the lectern was. It's full of props and paint and small details."

"This is a costume from a performance called The Europeans, by UK playwright Howard Barker. The screen is from the old shipyard in Copenhagen. And the pink animal on the shelf in the back is an iconic animal from a Czech art festival. It was our mascot when we performed there."

"This the heart of our home: the dining room. We designed the tables from stage podiums during the pandemic. The big black artwork on the left is by our beloved photographer Ingrid Bugge, unfortunately no longer alive, who has followed us for many years. The artwork in the background is a drawing from the well-known local political cartoonist Per Marquard Otzen."

"We built the kitchen ourselves from old grocery store and pharmacy cabinets. We searched online and drove to different towns to collect the pieces. The island bench is from an old shop on the ground floor of a 1929 villa in Odense. It had been built into the space. We had to cut the legs off to take it out."

"We live here with three cats: Natskygge (Night Shadow), Skumring (Dusk) and Stevie Wonder.

One day, a friend called about a tiny kitten they had found, thinking it might be ours. Stevie was very, very small. He wasn't our kitten, but we took him in while we tried to find his owners. We put him in our son's bedroom and, during the night, our son accidentally stepped on him, badly injuring him. Stevie started having fits. We'd already decided we would have to put him to sleep, but miraculously, he recovered.

The accident left him blind, so we called him Stevie because of his blindness, and Wonder because he had survived against all the odds. After we named him Stevie Wonder, we started to hear him sing.

He's now one year old and thriving. He's incredibly sociable and completely fearless."

"This is the school inspectors' house, seen from the garden."

"In 2014, we created a theatre performance in Finland and toured it around Finland and Estonia. After every performance, we visited a different sauna—a traditional smoke sauna, a floating sauna, a sauna by the sea... We loved the ritual so much that we decided we wanted to go to a sauna after every show in Denmark too. So we bought one and installed it by the sea near our home in Copenhagen, where we could jump straight into the water afterwards. We even created theatre performances around it!

When we moved to Møn, we knew we wanted a sauna here as well—so now we have two, one in Copenhagen and one on Møn. This one occasionally doubles as a bedroom when all our guest rooms are full.

Next on the list is an outdoor shower. The sea is about two kilometres away, which is just a little too far to run!"

"All the houses share a large, lush garden overlooking the sea at Klintholm Havn, the nearby fishing village. In summer, it's buzzing with life.

When we moved into the school, the garden had been completely abandoned. During our first year, we dug a drainage channel to prevent the fields from flooding, then planted an orchard with apple, pear, plum and cherry trees. We also planted birch trees to create an outdoor stage-now known as The Birch Stage-as well as raspberries, gooseberries and other berry bushes. Altogether, we've planted around 150 birch and hazel trees, along with 50 fruit trees."

"We're very close to the UNESCO-protected Møns Klint, with its dramatic white chalk cliffs, widely considered one of Denmark's most beautiful natural landmarks. The entire island is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, home to an extraordinary variety of rare habitats and species, including 18 species of orchid and the Large Blue butterfly, which is extinct everywhere else in Denmark.

This year, we created a theatre performance about the Large Blue butterfly, and since then we have become ambassadors for the UNESCO Biosphere."

I honestly feel like I could have wandered around this magical place for hours-there's a story waiting to be discovered in every room, every object and every corner of the garden.

A huge thank you to Peter and Tilde for so generously inviting us behind the curtain and sharing not only their extraordinary home, but also the stories and philosophy that have shaped it. It's been such a privilege.

To discover more about Peter and Tilde's artistic work, To The Møøn Festival, their artist residencies and home stays, do pay a visit to teatermon.dk, or follow them on Instagram @teatermoen.

And finally, a heartfelt thank you to Australian writer, editor and journalist Jana Perkovic, now based on the beautiful Danish island of Møn, for thinking of My Scandinavian Home and so kindly sharing her beautiful photographs and story with us.

I hope you've enjoyed this tour as much as I have. I'd love to hear what caught your eye-or which story stayed with you the longest.

Niki

Photography: Jana Perkovic, shared with kind permission