The Predictions – Saturday 13th April 2013

April 12th, 2012

We’re thrilled to be teaming up once again with our long standing collaborator Sammy Metcalfe (Cabaret Within, Man in the Elevator, Hamletmachine, You Are Invited) to bring you new theatrical implosions!

The Predictions is a brand new performance concept, a show which will be a year in the making and performed only once on 13th April 2013…

Starting on 13th April 2012, exactly a year before the performance, Sammy is submitting himself to a rigourous routine of writing one prediction about the world on 13th April 2013 every day. The 365 predictions will be gathered and form the basis of a durational show at Cafeteatret in Oslo in which past and present collide and a fascinating world of conjecture opens up, mapping out our shifting hopes and fears about the future…

The predictions will cover a broad thematic landscape. There will be political, personal, factual and philosophical predictions as well as predictions about the show… Some will be realistic, some comical, some provocative, some outlandishly absurd. Amongst this tangle of thoughts, themes and theories we hope a picture will emerge of the year’s hopes, fears, desires and obsessions… And of course each prediction will be gauged with the present reality… and pose a validation, contradiction, provocation or inconsistency with it. There are sure to be surprises along the way…

After sending us his daily predictions Sammy can forget about them. The next time he will be faced with them will be on 13th April 2013 when he will re-discover all his predictions together with the audience during the course of the show. The show will also catch up with itself through time, starting with text written 365 days earlier and ending in the present. What prediction will the show end on?

This is the structure, a loose structure with plenty of room for surprise and spontaneity. The show is being pieced together day by day as the countdown on this page brings us towards the curtain rising…

Join us at Cafeteatret in Oslo, where tea, coffee, wine and cake will be served throughout the show, for a unique durational performance experience!

13th April 2013, Cafeteatret/Nordic Black Theatre, Oslo

Performer: Sammy Metcalfe
Directors and Dramaturges: Philip Thorne and Oystein Brager
Concept: Imploding Fictions

 

Presence within White Rabbit Red Rabbit

March 9th, 2012

On her literature blog, Lise Grimnes has shared her thoughts on White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, the new show put on by Imploding Fictions and Oslo International Theatre. Visit her blog for the original post (in Norwegian) or check out the translation below:

There is a young playwright in Iran. His name is Nassim Soleimanpour. He cannot travel out of his country, but now he does so anyway, and he does it in a fascinating manner. In 2010 he wrote a play, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, and Oslo International Theatre is sharing it with us. Two times this week I have been to see this show, and if you are at all interested in plays, performance or literature be sure to see the last show on Saturday. What happens is this: an actor walks onto stage where he finds an envelope. The actor does not know its contents before s/he opens it and starts to read. And it is Nassim Soleimanpour who is talking to us. It’s powerful to experience such an intimate presence in a room, and that from someone who is not there. It truly becomes a dialogue between three parties; audience, playwright and actor. The latter becomes a kind of vessel for the playwright. Often the borders blur, and it is almost as if playwright and actor melt into one. Identity is manipulated right in front of our eyes. We are witness to how Nassim in Iran directly makes the audience in Oslo commit various actions. And it is him doing it, and not the text… well, at least that is how I perceived it. The show touches on many themes, but it is a very humane project – with a great intimacy between everyone present. And at the end you get something to think about… so much so that I for my part had to see it once more. And I still want to see it again. The last chance is Saturday at 19.00, that’s tomorrow, at Det Andre Teatret in Oslo, where Mats Eldøen will open the envelope and be thrown into things he cannot yet foresee. Pretty heavy things too. But so good. And very funny. Have a great experience!

Det Andre Teatret: http://www.detandreteatret.no/
Oslo International Theatre: http://www.oslointernasjonaleteater.com
There is also a webpage where you can follow the show: http://whiterabbitredrabbit.blogspot.com/

Lise Grimnes, KNIRK

You can read the original blogpost in Norwegian here:

http://knirk.no/2012/03/tilstedevaerelse-i-white-rabbit-red-rabbit/

Dangerous Iranian “Bunny Drama”

March 8th, 2012

After runs in Canada, the US and UK, Imploding Fictions and Oslo International Theatre bring Nassim Soleimanpour’s controversial and wildly theatrical play White Rabbit Red Rabbit to Scandinavia.

Here is the English translation of Nassim’s interview with Dagbladet. To read it in Norwegian click here


The Iranian Nassim Soleimanpour has attracted attention in country after country with his play White Rabbit Red Rabbit over the last year. Now it has arrived in Oslo.

What do you do as an Iranian playwright who is critical of the regime, subject to censorship and denied his passport and exit visa?
Answer: Write
Nassim Soleimanpour (30) wrote a sensational monologue play White Rabbit, Red Rabbit while he was unable to leave his hometown of Tehran. Last year it premiered in New York and was followed by a series of successful runs in Edinburgh and Toronto. Tonight it will be premiere in Oslo.
Who is in control?
Not surprisingly given the playwright’s situation White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is about the individual confronted with controlling forces and raises uncomfortable questions about both those who control and those being controlled. Oslo International Theatre has initiated an ambitious collaboration with six of the city’s theatres who will each host a performance of this play.
Six different actors will be in the spotlight, and won’t be given the text until the show begins.
“The play is based on my own situation in the five years when I wrote it” says Nassim Soleimanpour. Over the telephone from Tehran he explains:
“Because I refused to serve a mandatory two-year military service, I was denied a passport. That’s how it works in Iran, so I knew I would not be able to travel with my piece. So I decided to shape it as a kind of game that does not require rehearsals or directing. It requires only a text and a ‘cold’ actor  for each performance.
How did you get the play passed the Iranian state censorship?

“It wasn’t going to play in Iran, and was therefore not a censorship issue. But as soon as you want to show or publish anything in Iran there are some rules and boundaries that you must consider.”
What can you say about the relationship between artists and the Iranian authorities in Tehran?

“It’s a long and complex story. On the one hand it’s not so bad, it’s not like the government has guns pointed at the artists heads all the time. But you can’t write what you want. There are censorship rules and it can be dangerous to defy them. But above all, Iran has entered a historical period where the main question is about something bigger and more important than the relationship between the government, the theatre and the arts: it’s about ordinary the lives and existence of ordinary people.”
What about your situation now? Do you still not have a passport?

“I got a passport two months ago, after a long and stupid story. After White Rabbit, Red Rabbit became popular in New York, I started to get good feedback from all over the world, and the play was eventually produced in so many countries that I decided to do the military service after all. Because of an injury to my left eye, I was rejected, but I got the passport.”
Are you developing new shows?

“Yes, two. One is a collaboration with a Greek friend who lives in Canada, the other is a monologue based on the structure of the party game Mafia. The first I started before “rabbits”, but it’s a long process, and I don’t know when either of them will be finished.”

White Rabbit Red Rabbit opens tonight at Nordic Black/ Cafeteatret!

March 2nd, 2012

Tonight sees the first show in a series of six performances that will spread out across different venues all over Oslo… We start the series at Cafeteatret/ Nordic Black, Oslo’s centre for multiethnic theatre.

Tonight’s performer is Kate Pendry.

Kate Pendry is a British actor, performance artist and dramatist who has been resident in Norway since 1995. She has made a name for herself with challenging works with personal and political content. Pendry’s shows include Sex in the Warzone, Tales From A Wicked Child og The Wall of Fame and Shame. She also hosts at radiOrakel. In 2009 she was nominated for the Ibsen Award with her piece Pornography which was produced at Det åpne teater. She recieved an Ibsen Award for her play Erasmus Tyrannus Rex.

19.00 Nordic Black/ Cafeteatret

 

White Rabbit Red Rabbit – a play about death, freedom and bunnies

February 6th, 2012

6 Performances, 6 Theatres, 6 Actors!



White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a play by the Iranian dramatist Nassim Soleimanpour. His situation in Tehran is sensitive and he cannot leave the country. Nassim Soleimanpour has written a play, in the form of a letter to an actor to travel to the places he himself cannot.

The play is sealed in an envelope and only opened by the actor once on stage. The actor has not read the play before stepping in front of the audience! Each show will be performed by a different actor…

This is theatre at its most live and exciting!

From the 2nd to 10th of March the play will spread across six different theatres in Oslo. Don’t miss this unique performance event!

Dates, theatres and performers:

2. March 19:00:Cafeteatret / Nordic Black Theatre – Kate Pendry
5. March 19.00:Litteraturhuset – Mohammad Mirzazadeh
6. March 19.00: Black Box – Iram Haq
7. March 14.00 (matiné): Det Norske Teatret – Sarah Ramin Osmundsen
8. March 19.00: Torshovteatret – Mariann Hole
10. March 19.00: Det Andre Teatret – Mats Eldøen

Tickets can be bought from each of the above theatres, for more information please email us at oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com

The shows will be in English.

Dots

June 7th, 2011

When you were a child you may have owned a book that had numbered dots on each page. You drew a line from the first dot to the second. Then you connected this second dot to a third dot… and so on… by connecting all the dots you made your picture.

With these books most of the fun came halfway through when you guessed what the picture was going to be.

So what is the picture of Imploding Fictions and my new show ‘This Is Your Government Speaking’ going to be?

In the theatre, a playwright filters their ideas through words down onto a page. Then it goes from the page to the performer, before performer presents the show to the audience. This shifting of the material through one model to another does invest extraordinary energy into the work, but leaves the original act of creation somewhat removed… the playwright, while writing, is always trying to second guess what effect they will have on the audience by the end of the process.
So this is our first dot – to make a show whose structure is less contrived than anything we’ve attempted before. A show created in the moment, directly in front of the audience.

This gives us our second dot – building the show on the accepted principles of stand-up comedy. It is a short cut to winning an audience’s trust because they have expectations of improvisation, of creation in the here and now. And we can have lots of fun (in the fashion of Simon Munnery, Stewart Lee, Daniel Kitson) inverting the etiquette of what is normal, assumed.

The third dot? Is a goodbye to all the words I’ve written over the last ten years. I feel it is time to cultivate a fresh movement in my work, re-fresh how I express myself using my chosen platform of the theatre… but it is necessary to say goodbye first…

And the other dots?

I adore the idealistic philosophies of the delicate rogues, the scuffle monkeys and the trench clowns of this world… their mix of anarchism and absurdity, Foolishness and joy. Their influence is running through this show.

The wonderful composer Sarah Kershaw (of The Irrepressibles fame) will write the music… when an artist like Sarah agrees to craft you something, you stand back and give her the space to thrill you.

Summer, of course… the show debuts on July 2nd, a perfect time of year for sitting outside with a glass of wine talking to friends. Not sitting in a dark room, passively, watching a show. But a show we have, and as a thank you to you for coming to see it, and giving up that drinking outside in the sunshine time, we will bring some of the summer inside.

These then are the dots we’ve been connecting while making ‘This Is Your Government Speaking’. And it’s enormous fun seeing, halfway through, what it is to become.

We hope you can join us for its debut July 2nd, at Studio 101…

- Darren Lerigo

‘This Is Your Government Speaking’

Directed by Philip Thorne & Oystein Ulsberg Brager
Music composed by Sarah Kershaw
Written and performed by Darren Lerigo

“Treat your politicians like you’d treat your children. Don’t let them get away with murder.” The award-winning team of Imploding Fictions and Darren Lerigo bring you absurd jokes, contrived randomness and a message from the Gods in ‘This Is Your Government Speaking’, a new work – part theatre, part stand-up comedy – which asks what the difference is between truth and belief…

Performed at: Studio 101, Kingston College Kingston Hall Road, Kingston KT1 2AQ
Date and times: July 2nd 2011, at 5 pm and 8 pm.

Tickets:

Phone – 020 8547 5417

Online – click here

In Person – Tourist Information Centre, The Market House, Market Place, Kingston KT1 1JS

Workshops in Oslo in November – apply now!

May 24th, 2011

Workshops for directors, actors and writers with Ramin Gray and Simon Stephens

– OPEN FOR NORWEGIAN AND INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANTS -

Foto: Michael H. Sciarrone

Imploding Fictions and OIT are bringing two of Britains most respected theatre makers to Norway for a week of workshops in November!

Workshop for directors and actors with Ramin Gray – 21st to 24th November
Four teams of actors and a director will work on scenes from Motortown by Simon Stephens, with personal guidance from internationally acclaimed director Ramin Gray (Royal Court, Salzburg Festspiele, Staatsoper Hamburg), culminating in a work sharing at the House of Drama (Dramatikkens hus) in Oslo.

Workshop for playwrights with Simon Stephens – 23rd to 25th November
Acclaimed playwright Simon Stephens (Motortown at Royal Court, Pornography at Schauspielhaus Hanover, Harper Regan at National Theatre London) comes to Oslo to run a three-day practical writing workshop focusing on the potential of contemporary drama.

Both workshops will be in english, and are open to both Norwegian and international participants. See below for more detailed information.

Directors and writers who wish to participate can send an application email to oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com.

Actors should apply via www.skuespillersenter.no, where applications will open 20th June.

Included in the fee is the workshop, lunch every day and a special post show dinnner on the 24th. Participants from outside Oslo need to arrange their own travel and accomodation. Travel bursaries are available. Send an email to oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com for more information.

Click here for a schedule of the workshop week (exact times and content to be confirmed): Schedule Motortown workshop PDF

Workshop for directors and actors with Ramin Gray – 21st to 24th November

Where: Dramatikkens hus, Tøyenbekken 34 & Norsk Skuespillersenter, Welhavensgate 1, Oslo
When: Monday 21st November – Thursdag 24th November
Price actors: See www.skuespillersenter.no
Price directors: 1200,- NOK / 800,- NOK for international participants (bursaries available)

Four teams of actors and a director will work on scenes from Motortown by Simon Stephens, with personal guidance from internationally acclaimed director Ramin Gray, culminating in a work sharing at the House of Drama (Dramatikkens hus) in Oslo. The workshop will take place in English.

Motortown
“Danny returns from Basra to a foreign England and a different kind of battle. He visits an old flame, buys a gun and goes on a blistering road trip through the new home front. Written during the London bombings of 2005, Motortown is a fierce, violent and controversial response to the anti-war movement – and to the war itself. Chaotic and complex, powerful and provocative, Simon Stephen’s play portrays a volatile and morally insecure world.” – Royal Court Theatre

Ramin Gray
Ramin Gray is a leading British theatre and opera director with an impressive track record. Gray has directed productions in Salzburg, Paris, Moscow and Hamburg as well as France, India and Uganda. In Britain he has directed for the Royal Shakespeare Company, been associate director at the Royal Court Theatre and is currently artistic director of ATC.

How to apply as an actor
If you want to participate as an actor you should apply via www.skuespillersenter.no. We apologise that the website is only available in Norwegian. If you are struggling, please do not hesitate to send us an email and we will help you as best we can.

Go to www.skuespillersenter.no. Fill out the application form under Påmelding, and put a tick in the box next to Workshop for regissører og skuespillere med Ramin Gray. The price is given in Norwegian Kroner.

The application form translated:
Påmeldingsinformasjon = Application information
Fornavn = First name
Etternavn = Surname
Epost = Email
Adresse = Address
Postnr = Post code
Telefonnr = Phone number (remember country code)
Annen bakgrunn (send CV) = Other background (send CV)
Godta vilkår = Accept terms and conditions
Registrer = Apply

Please put a tick in the box that says Annen bakgrunn (send CV) and send your CV tooystein@skuespillersenter.no. Applications open 20th June.

How to apply as a director
Please send an application email to: oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com

Simon Stephens (Foto: Robert Workman)

Workshop for playwrights with Simon Stephens – 23rd to 25th November

Where: Dramatikkens hus, Tøyenbekken 34, Oslo
When: Wednesday 23rd November – Friday 25th November
Fee: 500,- NOK (bursaries available)

In this practical three day workshop acclaimed playwright Simon Stephens will give the participants an insight into his writing process, and give personal feedback on texts that the participants write during the workshop. The workshop will be take place in English.

Simon Stephens says: “This will be a practical rather than a theoretical  workshop based on writing approaches and exercises that I use in my own work. It will include scene studies of some of my plays as well as other writers work. It will consider the mechanics of dramatic action, character, narrative and structure.

It will be deeply informed by my experiences as a playwright working within the aesthetic and industrial contexts of British theatre but hopefully will resonate outside that culture. Or at least act as a provocation.”

Simon Stephens
Simon Stephens is one of Britains most performed contemporary playwrights, both at home and abroad. His plays have been performed at National Theatre London, Gester Theatre in Tel Aviv, Steep Theatre in Chicago og Schauspielhaus Hanover as well as theatres in Stuttgart, Salzburg, Hamburg, Zurich og Berlin. In 2006 he received the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for his play On The Shore Of The Wide World.

How to apply as a writer
Please send an application email to oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com.

The workshops are organised by Oslo International Theatre in collaboration with the Norwegian Actors Centre (Norsk Skuespillersenter) and the House of Drama (Dramatikkens hus), and supported by the Norwegian Arts Council (Norsk Kulturråd) and the Foundation for Performing Artists (FFUK).

You are invited…

March 11th, 2011

YOU ARE INVITED…

Coming soon… To your computer!

You Are Invited is our contribution to Brisbane’s Anywhere Theatre Festival, a festival that goes beyond the proscenium arch and celebrates theatre in unusual places… The site of our performance will be the WWW. You are invited to call five different Skype Accounts. There’s no telling yet what awaits you at the other end… Go on. You know you want to.

To watch the show you need to have Skype installed on your computer or smart phone. Skype can be downloaded for free from: www.skype.com

To access the show call youareinvitedentry during the following times (the last caller will be let through aproximately ten minutes before the stated end time):

Dates and times local to Brisbane:

Monday 9th May: 17.00 – 19.00
Wednesday 11th May: 14.00 – 16.00
Friday 13th May: 17.00 – 19.00

European mainland times for the show:

Monday 9th May: 09.00 – 11.00
Wednesday 11th May: 06.00 – 08.00
Friday 13th May: 09.00 – 11.00

UK times for the show (GMT):

Monday 9th May: 08.00 – 10.00
Wednesday 11th May: 05.00 – 07.00
Friday 13th May: 08.00 – 10.00

You can watch the show from anywhere in the world, provided you have a Skype account. Is your time zone not mentioned above? To work out when the show is online in your time zone, the following website might come in handy: timeanddate.com

Credits

The Texas Invitation
Created by: Kelli Bland
Filmed at the Art Seen Alliance warehouse in Austin, TX
Score: Allen Cote
Lighting: Steven Shirey
Puppets: Erin Meyer
Camera: Michael Pugliese
Cam assistant: Cross Rogge
Collaborators: Jacob Trussell, Rachel Weise, Erin Meyer, Cleve Weise, Meghan Dwyer, Briana McKeague, Michelle Keffer
Special thanks to: Warren McKinney, Rob Matney, Beth Burns, Pedro Alexander, Kate Cote, Kelly Hasandras, Jorge Sermini, Aaron Alexander

The Norwegian Invitation
Created and performed by: Ingrid Askvik
Thanks to: Arild Rohde

The German Invitation
Created and performed by: Alexandra Müller

The Spanish Invitation
Created and performed by: iara Solano Arana and Sammy Metcalfe (Sleepwalk Collective)

The English Invitation
Created and performed by: Astor Agustsson
Thanks to: HalfCut

You are invited… is curated by Øystein Ulsberg Brager and Philip Thorne (Imploding Fictions).

Where’s My Gorilla?

March 1st, 2011

In the Spanish language there are two ways ‘To Be’ – use the verb ‘Ser’ it tells us what you are in essence. Use the verb ‘Estar’ and you are talking about something mutable.

This is the most thrilling part of learning Spanish – the discovery of how to use these verbs, and when to exchange one for the other. And it’s so odd to the English ear! How can you be something in essence, but then speak in the past or future tense? My friends and teachers spent time explaining it to me, but I preferred not to listen – when a concept is that funny, why ruin it with explanations?

(My idea) of a joke was to say to Spanish people ‘I am a train station’ using the verb ‘Ser’ – ‘To Be; in essence’ – To be, in essence, a train station! Ha! I enjoyed the idea more than anyone else ever did, and I’m stubborn enough to continue in the face of failure; so though the joke wore thin, the idea for ‘I Am (defined by the essential quality of) A Train Station’ grew.

The play was written quickly, over three days, and given a platform by Factoria de Fuegos in the Basque capital city Vitoria-Gasteiz. I put into the text a pineapple (because they look funny on a stage) a hot, fresh pizza (which was shared between the audience) and the headless corpse of Mickey Mouse (I spiked the head on a sharp stick and paraded it around the city as a way to advertise the show. Except I didn’t do that.)

Those are the elements that made ‘I Am A Train Station’. But what the text suggests, what it tries to express as its central image is that, in your life, you are not on a train being taken on a journey but you are the station waiting for something to arrive.

Irate audience members have spoken to me about this theory after seeing the show, and told me I am completely and utterly wrong. That if they stood still and let life come to them, nothing would ever get done. ‘I Am A Train Station’ seemed to hit a nerve with some people, and I would have to explain that as the writer I didn’t necessarily agree with the idea, it’s just an idea I liked.

A year on from the show then, and what else do I remember…? I remember how Ismael de la Hoz listened to his audience and performed the show beautifully. How Virginia Fernandez was wonderfully patient with me as she made the translation. How I was happy, because… because we had a pineapple on the stage dammit and that is funny…. it is. I insist upon it!

I was asked by Oystein and Philip, those bright, ever generous and open-minded directors of Imploding Fictions, to tell you about ‘I Am A Train Station’. I have fulfilled that obligation. So…

… you have two options now. If you’re bored with reading this I offer you a link to some music. Go on, if you want to, take it…

Option two, for those of you who wish to stay, is to take a leap. It’s a small leap, towards the title of this text – ‘Where’s My Gorilla?’ – but it does require some effort because the next part is different to what has gone before.

If you’re ready and going to join me… Jump!

I went to a dress rehearsal for a pantomime last week. About midway through the first half the curtains opened on a new scene; a scene in a jungle, parrots cawing, drums beating faintly in the distance.

A moment, the stage is empty.

And then something wonderful happened.

Another moment passed and the stage stayed empty!

Those of us in the audience held our breath, understood collectively that something was wrong. We waited waited waited…

We watched this empty stage, for what
Felt like an age

We were witness to a pantomime
Turning, before our very eyes
Into an existentialist tragedy

Oh yes we were.

Until
The director shouted
From the back of the room
‘Where’s My Gorilla?’

Where’s my gorilla?
I would love to know the answer.

And that is it. I didn’t do anything… I sat, and I waited, and life… arrived… the gorilla didn’t, but life did.

‘Where’s my gorilla?’ has become my favourite mantra. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, with too much to do, I just ask –

‘Where’s my gorilla?’ –

and wait. Just wait for it.

And here is the conclusion to this text; ‘I Am A Train Station’ could easily have been called ‘Where Is My Gorilla?’ Or even ‘Spring Arrives When Winter Is Over;’ or even ‘If Given Adequate Heat, A Watched Pot Will Eventually Boil.’ The title is unimportant; it is the central image that matters. That life unfolds and sometimes, it is best to be patient, keep your eyes open, and wait.

If you think this idea is worth a try, go, try it. If not, forget about it and go back to the musical option I gave you above… because you should at least take five…

- Darren Lerigo, playwright and collaborator of Imploding Fictions



I am a train station

Performance (30 mins)

Premiered at Factoria de Fuegos Noche Scratxe, february 2010

Written and directed by Darren Lerigo
Performed by Ismael de la Hoz
Spanish translation by Virginia Fernandez

New webpage!

December 20th, 2010

We hereby declare our brand new webpage for open! Our webpage has recently undergone a big and very necessary touch up and reworking. The spanking new webpage with its cleaner and fresher look can be enjoyed at www.implodingfictions.com. Welcome!

We also wish you all a very, merry Christmas and a happy new year and look forward to seeing you at our performances and events next year!

Best wishes,

Øystein and Philip