On the 18th and 19th August ATC and Company of Angels presented Ghosts of Past and Present, two evenings of rehearsed play readings by emerging Norwegian playwrights in association with the Arcola Theatre and supported by the Norwegian Embassy. The two plays were Blue sky, green forest by Bjørnar L. Teigen and Buy Nothing Day by Kim Atle Hansen.

The readings were directed by myself. The wonderful cast consisted of Lloyd Gorman, Amrita Acharya, Eloise Secker, Laura Prior, Hannah Pierce and Alex Packer. Lloyd Gorman also composed excellent melodies for the songs performed in Buy Nothing Day. Philip Thorne and I translated the plays, working from existing literal translations by Svein Solenes (Blue sky, green forest) and Kim Atle Hansen (Buy Nothing Day).

We were delighted that Bjornar L.Teigen, the writer of Blue sky, green forest, was able to come from Norway to see the readings. He seemed pleased with how we’d dealt with translating his play and putting it on stage, so I’m very happy about that!

The Norwegian readings were part of ATC’s Spin Off program and took place at the Arcola Theatre before the performance of ATC/Arcola Theatre’s production of Ghosts or Those Who Return by Henrik Ibsen, presented in a new version by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. The ATC production was directed by Bijan Sheibani.

For more information see www.atctheatre.com or www.companyofangels.co.uk, or http://www.atctheatre.com/index.php?plid=78&show=info

- Oystein

Company of Angels presents Sense at Southwark Playhouse

From 28th April to the 2nd May

This is not an Imploding Fictions production, but is produced by our good friends and collegues at Company of Angels. Oystein is directing “Nose”, one of the 5 pieces:

Following on from the play’s success at Theatre Café Festival 2008, five Company of Angels’ Associates will jointly be directing a promenade production of the award-winning Sense by German author Anja Hilling with a cast of 10 final year Drama Centre students.

Sense is a series of interlinking narratives. All five ‘senses’ are also plays in their own right. A play about teenagers, love, and the need to make radical choices, Sense is an intense, poetic journey into touching, inhaling, tasting, hearing, seeing and experiencing life to the extreme.

“astonishingly grown-up and hard-hitting theatre for young people”
Lyn Gardner – The Guardian, on Theatre Cafe 2008

Tickets can be booked from:
www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
or 020 7407 0234

Or read more on:
www.companyofangels.co.uk

Hope to see you all there!

- Oystein

Imploding Fictions 
CO/Oystein Ulsberg Brager
24 Bay Tree Close
Sidcup
Kent DA15 8WH

- Øystein and Pip

Our production of Norway.Today is on in London at Sothwark Playhouse on the 14th and 15th of November as part of Company of Angels’ Theatre Café Festival!

We recommend you book tickets now, because Southwark Playhouse operate with airline style ticketing, which means they are cheaper the earlier you book.

Box office: 020 7928 2811

We hope to see you there!

Øystein and Philip

(Jack. One of our regulars. He played one of the robots in Hamletmachine. Great guy.)

WARNING: This blog entry contains an overload of clichéd verbal imagery, gross exaggeration, naff pop-cultural references, shameless self admiration and personal opinions. (It is, in other words, not that dissimilar to Cherie Blair’s recent biography.)

Looking at our busy schedule the last year, one might think Imploding Fictions’ projects appear like duped rabbits out of a magicians hat (“What’s with the bright light? How did I get here? Why do my ears hurt?”), pearls on a string (Norwegian expression. Don’t ask.), train carriages out of a tunnel, one following the other, or that they fall into place like dominos or double cherries on a slot machine (Keeeerching!!!). 

(Sammy, doing his impression of a confused rabbit.)

Although all these analogies might carry some truth (particularly the ‘Keerching’ bit),  the actual experience is more like this:

It is like looking at a door.

A large, calm, white door. Impeccably painted, nicely framed and comfortably closed. It is the kind of door that fills you with peace inside, like a door of good karma, a haven of light wood and worry-less tranquility. 

Then.

All of a sudden a massive, kick-arse axe comes hacking its way loudly through the all-too-soft wood in a single smashing blow. Splinters fly everywhere and through the jagged hole a new project rears its ugly head and grins shamelessly in our face exclaiming: 

“He-e-e-ere’s Johnny!!!”

“Keerching!”

In fact, I don’t believe the experience from the inside of the Imploding Fictions vehicle even remotely resembles the viewpoint from the outside. From the corner of the sofa, with a beer and a bowl of popcorn, the Formula 1 racing car is a feast for the eye, a glistening, gleaming beam of light through the dust of the racing track, with a low, humming drone gently caressing your ears emerging from the speakers of the TV-set. From inside the cockpit on the other hand, the scandi-anglo-germanic co-pilots experience a brain mushing, blood curling G-force, battling neck breaking acceleration (Buckle up, cowboy! Let’s ride!) and the noise is like having a 10-inch nail hammered ruthlessly through your eardrums. 

Metaphorically speaking, that is.

Metaphorically speaking, Imploding Fictions is like a Formula 1 car where the pan-european construction team with a combination of luck and utter foolishness built the engine out of the spare parts of a space rocket – but completely forgot to install brakes. 

Or, it is like the baby in Lynch’s Erasorhead (the cutest baby ever to hit the silver screen!); a demanding, devouring, desperate creature with an excess of growth hormone, a living thing which has to be fed and tended to every day, like a mean green mother from outer space and it’s bad… But like any living creature, worthy of of love and respect (This is where the blog goes soppy, look out. Get your handkerchiefs lined up), having become something we crave for, enjoy (why else would we be doing it?) and ultimately depend on. 

It is not something we can really drop or forget, it is not just an object or a concept or simply a legal entity, it is more than that. Something that can perhaps only be expressed through metaphor:

Imploding Fictions is like waking up in the morning, discovering that you have been chained to a rodeo-bull who can’t tell anger management from nuclear warfare just about to be severely stung on his crown jewels by a bee with the wrong sense of humor. 

(Example of bee with the wrong sense of humour.)

It is both our Mr. Hyde and our super hero alter ego. 
Our anagram.
That which you read between the lines.
It is our hidden treasure and the life-size map to find it.
Our fun fair mirror room reflection.
Us without the make up on.

A stack of yellow bricks next to a big, blinking neon sign saying: 

“Grab your sand and bubble-fluid, guys!
It might mix nicely into mortar!” 

You can read more about Imploding Fictions’ various projects on http://www.implodingfictions.com.

- Øystein

Productions may no longer include:

Sand

Bubble Fluid

Real Mobile Telephones

Fake Blood

Cliff diving

Actors

Oystein will learn how to:

Sew

Iron

Speak German

Pip will learn how to:

Speak Norwegian

Get a good friend in the Arts Council

Balance a lawn mower on his chin

Miscellaneous:

We will not use Bable Fish for translations.

We will learn some Italian basics.

We will not piss off rights holders.

We will not piss off producers.

We will not piss off priests, muezzins or rabbis. 

We will be more gracious with our opponents (what d’ya think Sammy?)

We will design a set which is a giant chocolate fountain

We will complete a full length version of our show “Now You See It; Now You Don’t”

Note: Resolutions are made to be broken.

Best wishes,

Øystein and Philip