The Wild Duck – London rehearsals
Rehearsals for the London production of The Wild Swan (2 October 2024).
All images are copyright of the photographer Antero Hein.
Henrik Ibsens Brand goes gospel i Fjæreheia Amfi
Det Norske Ibsenkompaniet overtar den magiske scenen i Fjæreheia Amfi for tredje sommer på rad 20-28 juli. Årets forestilling er Henrik Ibsens Brand, Og kunstnerisk leder i Ibsenkompaniet, Kåre Conradi, lover en forestilling du sent vil glemme.
– Vi er ekstremt glade for endelig å kunne avsløre at vi har fått med oss Vidar Magnussen på regi av årets forestilling, sier Conradi. Han har utrolig mange fine tanker om hvordan vi kan presentere stykket på en helt ny måte, og jeg tror Vidar sin visjon for forestillingen vil blåse publikum rett ut av setet, fortsetter han.
Idealisme og kompromisser
Brand er fortellingen om en mann som er villig til å ofre absolutt alt for å leve etter sine prinsipper og idealer. Det er historien om en idealistisk prest som konfronterer samfunnets normer og regler. Forestillingen tar deg med på en reise gjennom Brands kamp for sannhet og forpliktelse, samtidig som den avdekker menneskets iboende frykt, tvil og kompromisser.
Shockheaded Peter
Vidar Magnussen er for mange meste kjent som skuespiller og komiker, både for sin mangeårige rolle som Jonas i NRK-serien Side om Side og som karakteren Winter i Snøfall. De siste årene har han imidlertid hatt stor suksess også som regissør, både i teateret og i Den Norske Opera. Sist var han aktuell med den kritikerroste oppsetningen av Shockheaded Peter på Den Nationale Scene i Bergen. I sommerens forestilling i Fjæreheia Amfi tar han også rollen som Fogden i tillegg til å ha regi.
Kristoffer Olsen som Brand
I rollen som Brand har Det Norske Ibsenkompaniet hentet inn sanger og skuespiller Kristoffer Olsen kjent for mange fra Kongen Befaler på TV Norge. Han er også tidligere sett på Det Norske Teateret i Book of Mormons, i Den Norske Opera som bl.a. Mack The Knife og i mange TV-serier, både i Norge og i Storbritannia.
– Kristoffer har et spennende uttrykk, som både Vidar og jeg gleder oss til å se utfolde seg som Brand. I tillegg er han en flink sanger, noe som også kommer til nytte i denne oppsetningen, sier Kåre Conradi.
Leken forestilling
I denne versjonen av Brand vil et gospelkor fungere som kontinuerlig bakteppe for historien. De vil også fungere som både Brand og andre karakterers indre stemmer. Selv om det noen steder blir av humoristisk art, tas Ibsens tekst på dypeste alvor også i denne oppsetningen.
– Brands tro prøver å flytte fjell(veggen) i Fjæreheia, sier regissør Vidar Magnussen. Dette akkompagnert av et gospelkor med musikk som smeller i samme vegg, men aldri glir over i det blasfemiske, fortsetter han.
Flere kjente navn på scenen
Kjent fra utallige roller på teaterscenen, TV og film kommer Kjersti Elvik til Fjæreheia Amfi for å gjøre Moren, Karl Vidar Lende er Einar, og Reidun Melvær Berge gjør Agnes. Reidun Melvær Berge er en skuespiller og musikalartist som for tiden er ansatt ved Den Nationale Scene i Bergen, mens mange vil kjenne igjen Karl Vidar Lende fra hans rolle som journalisten Per Vassbotn i NRK-serien Makta.
Experience Henrik Ibsen’s Brand in the spectacular old quarry Fjæreheia Amfi, Grimstad July 20-28th 2024.
Brand is the story of a man who is willing to sacrifice absolutely everything to live according to his principles and ideals. The play explores the profound struggle between uncompromising idealism and the harsh realities of the world
Director Vidar Magnussen promises a unique experience you will never forget when Brand goes gospel, introducing a fresh look at Ibsen’s masterpiece. The stage will be filled by 40 local extras as well as a gospel choir helping to drive the story forward.
Experience a magnificent ensemble at Fjæreheia in the summer of 2024, where the quarry, with its majestic beauty, high walls and dramatic landscape provides the perfect frame around Ibsen’s intense Brand.
The Norwegian Ibsen Company – An Enemy of the People
The Norwegian Ibsen company is taking Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People worldwide to increase our awareness and mutual responsibility to support those who speak up for our common good. The project, helmed by director Christian Holm-Glad, will consist of three phases:
Workshops with locally adapted versions around the globe (from 2022 to 2027) with local actors to explore: How does An Enemy of the People resonate in the present time in the country and culture they live in? What are the most pressing topics in their society?
We are planning approximately 7 of these local versions.
So far, we have done the following: Istanbul (2022) in collaboration with Galata Perform and Los Angeles (2023) in collaboration with Latino Theatre Co.
To see a presentation of the Istanbul version, please click here.
To see a presentation of the Los Angeles version, please click here.
In 2024, Vienna will be the next city where we will conduct a local version. Mumbai, Kathmandu, Nairobi, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Jerusalem, and Sydney are the cities we will consider next.
With the knowledge we have gathered from these experiences, we will create an international, large-scale version of An Enemy of the People that will be played on all continents, using local places with environmental issues as the stage.
The goal is to raise awareness of our global issues and that these problems can only be solved if we come together. These plays will be executed in 2028 (Ibsen’s 200th anniversary).
These international large-scale plays will be recorded and used with local actors in different countries to make smaller local adapted versions.
A documentary team will follow the workshops and large-scale performances to make an international documentary on the topics of An Enemy of the People.
Peer Gynt at Fjæreheia
‘Masterful’
Deserving of a huge audience
‘This is larger than life theatre in every sense; song and dance, music and lighting, and all with the quarry as a powerful backdrop. The alternation between the large tableaus and the subdued scenes is done effortlessly by Mulvik and the other actors, helped by a professional production.’ (Grimstad Adressetidende)
5/6
‘Nils Golberg Mulvik is close to a complete Peer Gynt. With enormous energy and vitality in both voice and body, he brings this mythical Ibsen figure to life in a performance that, overall, is one of the most convincing I have seen from a Peer Gynt production.’
‘Masterful. The ensemble lifts Ibsen’s brilliant text to the heights it deserves.’ (Fædrelandsvennen)
PEER GYNT at Fjæreheia
The Norwegian Ibsen Company enters Fjæreheia. Fjæreheia is a former quarry in Norway where a characteristic red granite was mined. It has an amphitheatre with 900 seats. The quarry is a unique outdoors arena, just outside of Grimstad, the town where Henrik Ibsen lived and worked in his youth and wrote his first play.
With an intensely visual Peer Gynt that begins after dark, Ibsen’s permanent mark will be carved into the rock wall.
Inspired by the critically acclaimed drawings by Geir Moen, Peer Gynt returns to Fjæreheia. One of the biggest audience successes in Fjæreheia was Reidar Sørensen’s interpretation of Peer Gynt. Now it is his son, Kim Sørensen, who’s responsible for an intense and powerful version of Ibsen’s immortal classic.
Actor and director Sørensen believes Peer Gynt speaks to us all, in all stages of our lives, and pulls on our heart strings time and time again.
When you manage to avoid responsibility throughout your entire life, old age turns into an encounter with a person we might not recognise.
Kim Sørensen acted in Peer Gynt when it was staged in Fjæreheia in 1998. Speaking with Sørensen, he says:
“This is a journey into a human mind. Everyone says Peer is lying, but is he really? Who is Peer? Who am I? A person who isn’t acknowledged may have a tendency to twist the truth, but is that a lie? Can the lies be truths? A person who feels ignored is a person on the edge! Is Peer being pushed to the brink, or does he want this? Can reality be somewhere between truth and lies?”
Wednesday 20 to Sunday 24 July 2022
THE STAGE interview with Kjetil Bang-Hansen
Simon Thomas from THE STAGE published his interview with Kjetil Bang-Hansen.
The Norwegian Ibsen Company is returning to the Coronet, this time with acclaimed director Kjetil Bang-Hansen at the helm. The octogenarian tells Simon Thomas about bringing this most personal of Ibsen’s works to London audiences. [ LINK TO FULL ARTICLE ]
Interviews in The Times
Kåre Conradi and director Kjetil Bang-Hansen discuss all things Ibsen and the company’s latest production When We Dead Awaken in today’s The Times. When We Dead Awaken opens at London’s Coronet Theatre on Thursday (24 February 2022).
The Norwegian Ibsen Company presents Peer Gynt at Fjæreheia
The Norwegian Ibsen Company enters Fjæreheia. With an intensely visual Peer Gynt that begins after dark, Ibsen’s permanent mark will be carved into the rock wall.
Inspired by the critically acclaimed drawings by Geir Moen, Peer Gynt returns to Fjæreheia. One of the biggest audience successes in Fjæreheia was Reidar Sørensen’s interpretation of Peer Gynt. Now it is his son, Kim Sørensen, who’s responsible for an intense and powerful version of Ibsen’s immortal classic.
Actor and director Sørensen believes Peer Gynt speaks to us all, in all stages of our lives, and pulls on our heart strings time and time again.
When you manage to avoid responsibility throughout your entire life, old age turns into an encounter with a person we might not recognise.
Kim Sørensen acted in Peer Gynt when it was staged in Fjæreheia in 1991. Speaking with Sørensen, he says:
“This is a journey into a human mind. Everyone says Peer is lying, but is he really? Who is Peer? Who am I? A person who isn’t acknowledged may have a tendency to twist the truth, but is that a lie? Can the lies be truths? A person who feels ignored is a person on the edge! Is Peer being pushed to the brink, or does he want this? Can reality be somewhere between truth and lies?”
2022 TOUR: When We Dead Awaken
“When We Dead Awaken is a strange, beautiful and bitter play about art, love, ambition and freedom. Like a musical quartet, 4 people, 4 elements, 4 voices, 4 instruments play different songs in a complicated melody. It is a play for our time, as they find themselves living in a changed world. Bewildered, how do they move forward?” – Director Kjetil Bang Hansen
The Norwegian Ibsen Company returns to The Coronet Theatre with a new adaptation of When We Dead Awaken, Henrik Ibsen’s enigmatic final play.
It is rare that anyone gets the chance to rediscover a lost love.
In the depths of a winter Rubek, once a celebrated sculptor, returns to Norway with his estranged young wife Maia – only to bump into his great lost love and muse Irene. Is this their opportunity to return to a world where there is meaning, hope and happiness – to awaken from the dead?
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