Øystein Ulsberg Brager, freelance director
Øystein is a freelance director and joint artistic director of the international performance collective Imploding Fictions.
In 2003 Øystein launched both his writing and directing career with the production The Hitch. The play was written together with Marie Ulsberg, and in 2004 the play received an award in the Norwegian Theatre Council’s annual playwriting competition.
Autumn 2005 Øystein embarked on another project as a writer/director. The subject was cryogenic freezing, and in October a work in progress-performance of And then I was Unfrozen was presented at Rose Bruford College. Spring 2006 Øystein participated in a series of New Writing for Theatre workshops, at the end of which his one act play Dark Blue Flower received a rehearsed reading.
Øystein has a great passion for film as well as theatre, and the exploratory sessions of ImproFilm were the beginning of a collaboration with fellow director Philip Thorne. They made a collection of short films called 7 Tales of Time shot in Norway summer 2005, and have created a number of ImproFilms incuding the video art work Heartpiece. The highlight of their filmwork so far is the short film Cabaret Within: Made in only three days, without money or sleep, it is an example of true kamikaze filmmaking!
Øystein graduated from the Directing BA (Hons) at Rose Bruford College in 2007. At Rose Bruford Øystein has directed Cleansed by Sarah Kane and the devised piece IN NO CENCE. In March 2007 Øystein and Philip co-directed The Hamletmachine by Heiner Müller and in June the same year Øystein co-directed S.A.T.B., a new play by acclaimed playwright Meredith Oakes. Both these plays were presented at BAC in London. The production of Hamletmachine has since played at festivals in both Cairo, Amsterdam and Rome where it received the award Premio Internazionale Claudio Gora 2007 for best experiemental theatre performance.
Øystein is an experienced workshop leader and teaches improvisation, writing for theatre, drama, devised filmmaking and creative writing as well as other subjects. Øystein also freelances as a dramaturg and works as a mentor for the Norwegian arts organisation Trafo.no, alongside Imploding Fictions’ various projects.
If you are interested in getting in touch with me, or if you want to join Imploding Fictions mailing list, please send an email to improfilm@hotmail.com! You can read more about Imploding Fictions’ projects on http://www.implodingfictions.com.