Imploding Fictions' Blog » Philip Thorne

Review of ‘Angstmacher’ in the Wiener Zeitung

Øystein — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:09:35 +0000

Von Lona Chernel

Sieben Frauen und ein Mann betreten im Lauf des Abends die kleine Bühne im Theater Drachengasse, Raum Bar & Co. Sie präsentierten das Finale des Nachwuchs-Theater-Wettbewerbs, Thema “Die Angstmacher”. Die meisten von ihnen sind schauspielerisch sehr gut ausgebildet, haben auch schon an großen Bühnen Erfahrungen gesammelt.

Die fünf Kurzstücke sind unterschiedlich, nähern sich dem Thema von verschiedenen Seiten. Das reizvollste ist wohl “Flap an Fear”, in dem zwei aufgeschreckte Täubchen (herrlich komödiantisch Rowena Hutson und Lauren McCullum), da sie der deutschen Sprache nicht mächtig sind, das Lied vom “Tauberln vergiften” gründlich missverstehen. “Flaneur of Fear” (darstellerisch facettenreiches Trio: Elisa Seydel, Franziska Hackl, Cora Jeannee) relativiert geschickt den Begriff des Bösen. Als sperrig erweist sich “Bang! Bang! Ein Manifest” und bedarf der hervorragenden Interpretin Susanna Kellermayr, um zu voller Wirkung zu kommen.

Allzu einfach macht es sich der begabte Eugen Fulterer mit “Baracks Wurscht-fisch”, eine Gratwanderung ist Anne Frütels “Einbau”.

79 Projektvorschläge waren eingelangt, 70 Prozent aus Österreich, die übrigen 30 Prozent aus 15 weiteren Ländern. Man muss der Jugend eine Chance geben, dann zeigt sie, wie viel Kraft, Mut und Talent sie hat.

English translation:

In the course of the evening, seven women and one man take to the small stage at Theater Drachengasse’s bar & co. They are the finalists of the theatre’s newcomer competition with the theme „Fearmongers“. Most of them have trained at prestigious schools and gained experience at big theatres.

The five short pieces are very different, and approach the theme from alternate angles. The most engaging is Flap and Fear in which two alarmed pigeons (in wonderfully comic portrayals by Rowena Hutson and Lauren McCullum) thoroughly misunderstand the song of poisoning pigeons due to linguistic differences. Flaneur of fear (a trio with a wide range: Elisa Seydel, Franziska Hackl, Cora Jeannee) artfully relativizes the concept of evil. ‘Bang! Bang! a Manifesto’ turns out to be quite clunky and needs Suzanne Kellermeyer’s considerable acting skills to bring it to life.

Eugen Fulterer’s Baracks Wurscht-fisch is too simplistic and Anne Frütel’s Einbau is a balancing act.

79 young artists applied for this scheme, 70% from Austria the other 30% from 15 different countries. The evening shows that if you give young artists a chance they show how much energy, courage and talent they have.

Here Be Monsters

Øystein — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:42:39 +0000

For sailors, adventurers and those fools who loved to face their fears, cartographers would write on maps of unknown regions the legend ‘Here Be Monsters’.

Helpful information? Or did they just worship the mysterious, the unknown and the notorious?

I hadn’t worked in the theatre for a long time, when two years ago I decided enough was enough and took off towards my own unknown. I quit my office job, packed a change of clothes into a rucksack, left my phone and I-pod on the kitchen table and got on a plane leaving England for France.

From France I walked all the way across Spain, to finish on the west coast where the land meets the sea. It took me forty days and forty nights (and if that isn’t true, it should be.)

At the sea I had a choice – to return to my office job, spend all my time there each day, buy a sandwich at lunch, be allowed one tea break in the morning, one in the afternoon.

Or I could choose to spend as much time as possible doing what I love – writing plays. I hadn’t been involved in making theatre for three years. I looked at the map. ‘Here be monsters’ it said.

Scary as it was, I made the choice to return to a career writing plays. I stepped into unknown territory seeking liberation, with a smile on my face and an optimism bordering on insanity. Let there be monsters I thought. Let there be fear.

At the Drachengasse Theatre in Vienna, starting on May 3^rd, will be the play I wrote for the directors of Imploding Fictions. It is called ‘Flap and Fear’.

It involves Lilly and Jesse, two pigeons who go on holiday to Vienna.

You know the way pigeons gather in the park? Then if you move close to them, they flap their wings in fright and fly away? What happens next?

They always come back.

Pigeons returning to the crust of bread in the park and me returning to pursue a career in playwrighting are the same thing. They are stories about the addiction we have to our fears. The compulsion, the obsession to test, sample, discover how close we can get to the fire before we burn our hand.

‘Here Be Monsters’ the map says.

Curious, we keep going to have a look.

- Darren Lerigo, april 2010

***

Guest-blogger Darren Lerigo is a Madrid-based playwright and theatremaker. He has written Imploding Fictions’ latest play “Flap and fear” which will be performed as part of the Newcomer-scheme at Theater Drachengasse in Vienna 3rd – 22nd May 2010.

Twittering Pigeons

Øystein — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:51:24 +0000

Under the heading PigeonPost our two pigeons Lilly and Jesse from our new show Flap and fear will be tweeting about their life, fear and flapping throughout the project, both during our rehearsal time in London and our run at Theater Drachengasse in Austria. For tweets from the life of two London pigeons going on a city break to Vienna, and for updates about our theatrical endeavours during this project, follow TheImploders on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/TheImploders

We will also be using this account to tweet about Imploding Fictions in the future, so sign up now and follow our implosive affairs!

- Øystein

From Toy Story to Communism

Øystein — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:47:53 +0000

– Wallace Shawn and The Fever

Wallace Shawn (Photo: Unknown)

Acting in Hollywood blockbusters for kids and overt Marxist politics don’t generally go hand in hand. So it’s probably fair to say that amongst contemporary playwrights Wallace Shawn wins the award for quirkiest CV. He’s a comedian, writer, political activist, translator of Brecht, essayist and social commentator with degrees in history and economics from Oxford and Harvard. Amongst the many facets of his artistic career however, personally he sees himself first and foremost as a playwright. It’s a lovely paradox that while his theatre work is often dark and confrontational and has caused outrage, he is loved by millions as the voice of Rex in Toy Story.

Wallace Shawn (Photo: Unknown)

Despite one critic describing him as ‘one of the worst and unsightliest actors in this city’ his appearance in The Princess Bride turned him into a cult figure and ever since he’s been plying his trade as the Hollywood oddball. On the other end of the spectrum he’s also appeared in the semi-autobiographical dialogue My Dinner with Andre, and a deconstruction of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya titled Vanya on 42nd Street, both directed by the legendary Louis Malle. Shawn’s theatre work began in 1978 with the play Marie and Bruce and he polarised critics and audiences from the start. His play A Thought in Three Parts caused a minor uproar in London in 1977 when the production was investigated by a vice squad and attacked in Parliament due to allegedly pornographic content. Shawn was back in London last year, this time treating viewers of his new play Grasses of a thousand colours to graphic descriptions of sex with cats. This time no legal action was taken! His language is both lyrical and violent and his themes often overtly political. Shawn is a master of drawing parallels between the psychology of his characters and the behaviour of governments and social classes and this culminated in his work The Fever.

Wallace Shawn (Photo: Unknown)

The Fever follows a nameless character’s journey as he awakens on a bathroom floor in a nameless poverty-stricken country. Sick and alone, this everyman recounts the story of how he has arrived at this particular hotel, and the painful realisations that has accompanied his journey. It’s a journey that brings him face to face

with the grotesque inequalities at the heart of modern existence. Shawn asks us to look at the choices we make, on a daily level, to see how we are each continuing the flow of keeping the poor in the poverty zone and the rich in the insulated levels of power. His wealth, he realises, depends on others’ poverty, his comfort on

others’ deprivation. He comes to see that his life is ‘irredeemably corrupt’. Shawn then continues to depict the torturous reasoning of a mind trying to find its way back to acceptance of a state of affairs it has discovered to be morally untenable. He eventually shifts from spasms of disgust for his part in the world’s injustices to

coolly logical arguments for maintaining the status quo. Wallace Shawn deconstructs the contradictions and compromises of the urban liberal mind with wit and rigour. The play asks us if we should feel guilty once we realise that our hard work does not justify our comfort, when in reality all work hard but not all are comfortable? And what steps should we take when that realisation is made?

Wallace Shawn (Photo: Unknown)

The Fever has been described by Shawn as his ‘most autobiographical work’. He has been working on it constantly for many years and the work and its form have undergone many permutations. Shawn originally intended it as a piece of political activism rather than ‘a play’. In the 80s he performed it himself at dinner parties in peoples living rooms all around New York. He says he would ideally perform it after his audience had tucked into a nice meal and still had a glass of champagne in their hands. He would proceed to tease away at the things that underpin the lifestyles

of middle-class liberals. The central conflict would unfold directly between the play and the audience. In 1990 The Fever became a stage play and was performed in both New York and at London’s Royal Court Theatre. Most recently, in 2004, Shawn turned The Fever into a tv show for HBO starring Vannessa Redgrave and Michael Moore. The Fever remains a powerful and probing assault on the distribution of wealth in our society and our privileged existence. OIT are proud to be presenting the play for the first time in Oslo.

The Fever by Wallace Shawn (US)

a rehearsed reading by Oslo International Theatre

at Vardeteatret in Oslo, Radhusgt. 19

22nd April at 7pm

Directed by Øystein Ulsberg Brager

Performed by Torgny G. Aanderaa

Production management: Teatersirkus / Michael H. Sciarrone

The reading will be performed in english.

Tickets: 70,- NOK

To reserve tickets email oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com

For more information on OIT see:

http://oslointernasjonaleteater.wordpress.com

Oslo International Theater is a project run by Imploding Fictions.

The Fever was first performed by the author January 1990 in an apartment near Seventh Avenue in New York City.

Performed with kind permission by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.

Flap and fear in Vienna

Øystein — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:28:02 +0000

Photo: Kaja Kozlowska

FLAP AND FEAR by Darren Lerigo

A theatre production by Imploding Fictions

Theatre Drachengasse 3rd – 22nd May 2010

Directed by Philip Thorne and Oystein Ulsberg Brager

Performed by Lauren McCullum and Rowena Hutson

Sound design by Laurence Short

For tickets and further information see

http://www.drachengasse.at

The play will be performed in English.

Imploding Fictions has been commisioned by Theater in der Drachengasse in Vienna to produce a new performance based on the theme ‘scaremongers’, as part of Drachengasse’s Newcomer-scheme. The performance will be part of an evening entitled Angstmacher.

A little girl is running through a flock of pigeons in a park. They all fly off in a panic, yet she poses no real threat. Later, they always come back.

Flap and Fear follows two London city pigeons as they seek refuge from a world of frights in Drachengasse’s Bar&Co. Flap and Fear is about our addiction to fear and how we return to it, over and over again. In fact – perhaps we are actually complicit with the scaremongers?

DARREN LERIGO

Darren Lerigo is a young British writer currently living in Madrid. He has previously run several online writing projects and published the satirical e-newspaper This Is Your Government Speaking. Darren is winner of the Haymarket Theatre Basingstoke’s ‘Write to Stage’ competition for his play Jester You Shall Sunset. He is currently dreaming of writing a show based on European folk tales, told by a woman playing a harp and backed by a trio of violinists in cages, a banjo playing ape dressed as a pirate and an accordion player with enormously long legs.

ROWENA HUTSON

Rowena graduated with a First Class Honours degree in European Theatre Arts from Rose Bruford College in 2008. She was awarded the Sir John Gielgud Charitable Trust Bursary for promising young actors completing their final year of study for 2007/2008. Rowena is a member of the theatre collective Sheer Lunacy, the permanent ensemble of Underground Cinema, and is the Acting Mentor for Rose Theatrical of London Ltd. She has toured Germany and France with White Horse Theatre Company and has performed in the United Kingdom, Holland and Australia. Credits include: Katrina Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow, directed by Jaime McCarney; Ebbi in Unwrapped, directed by Luna Gawler; Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Claire Fisher, and The Lady In Red in Manilla for Sheer Lunacy.

LAUREN MCCULLUM

Lauren trained for three years at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in London, receiving a first class BA honours degree in European Theatre Arts in 2009. Lauren has also studied at the Estonian Academy of Music and Drama and part-time classes at The Circus Space. For the past two and a half years, Lauren has been working with theatre collective, the Fiasco Division, developing performances, events and a creative practice as a company. Lauren has been performing for nine years in various festivals and venues; including the Estonian Academy, Norway’s Operahuset Nordfjord, Reykjavik’s ArtFart and in her home country in London’s National Theatre and Southwark Playhouse, Bournemouth’s Kube Art Gallery and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Past credits include The Queen in Luigi Pirandello’s Henry V, directed by Andrea Cussumano; Anne-Marie Stretter in India Song, directed by Monique Hunt; Iphigenia in Iphigenia in Taurus, directed by Alexia Kokkali; Natella Abashwilli in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, directed by Ingo Normet and numerous devised productions at Rose Bruford and with The Fiasco Division.

You can find a detailed performance schedule, information on ticket bookings and further information on Theater Drachengasse’s homepage:

http://www.drachengasse.at/

Thanks to photographer Kaja Kozlowska for letting us use her lovely photo of a running girl and flapping pigeons in the show! To see how the picture features in the production, make your way to Angstmacher and Flap and fear at Theater Drachengasse in Vienna, Austria.

- Oystein

Poster for the Angstmacher evening

which Flap and fear is part of

Imploding Fictions attempts Crimp in Oslo

Øystein — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:44:05 +0000

Oslo International Theatre presents the Norwegian premiere of

Attempts on Her Life

by Martin Crimp

a rehearsed reading at Vardeteatret in Oslo

Translated by: Katharina Gellein Viken

Directed by: Øystein Ulsberg Brager

With: Katharina Gellein Viken, Christoffer Hag Maure, Robert Rustad Amundsen og Torgny G. Aanderaa

Produced by: Michael H. Sciarrone

Thursday 11th March at 7pm at Vardeteatret, Rådhusgt. 19 in Oslo, Norway

Tickets can be reservered via oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com

Attempts on Her Life is a modern masterpiece by British dramatist Martin Crimp.

When it burst onto stage in 1997 at London’s Royal Court theatre it created both immense excitement and considerable bafflement. It’s the work of a freewheeling imagination in which seventeen scenarios collide to create the portrait of a highly ambiguous character called ‘Anne’. With each scenario we are presented with a different facet of her enigma. Is she a porn star, an international terrorist, a victim of aliens, a physicist or indeed a make of car? Martin Crimp presents us with all these options in this virtuosic tour de force of a play which is by turns funny, shocking, entertaining and sad. More than a decade after its’ premiere Attempts on Her Life has become an established modern classic and a major influence on young writers the world over. OIT is proud to present the first reading of this extraordinary piece in Norway in a brand new translation by Katharina Gellein Viken.

Welcome to Attempts on Her Life!

Philip Thorne

Joint artistic director of Imploding Fictions and dramaturg for Oslo International Teater

About Crimp and Attempts on Her Life:

The most radically interrogative play in western mainstream theatre since Beckett.

Mary Luckhurst

The piece has a kaleidoscopic vigour … It is driven by a radical contempt for the new global capitalism and its attempt to turn us all into peripatetic, depersonalised consumers … He may have dispensed with plot and characters, but he has proved that the act of theatre can still survive if it is propelled by moral fervour.

Michael Billington, Guardian

This is what the brave new theatre of the 21st Century will look like – both on stage and on the page.

Nicholas de Jongh

[Crimp] has an extraordinary fastidiousness about language … He displays the formal bravura of one who delights in his craft.

Independent on Sunday (om Crimps The Country)

Martin Crimp is one of the hottest properties in Europe.

Guardian

For more information on OIT see:

http://oslointernasjonaleteater.wordpress.com

Oslo International Theatre is a project run by Imploding Fictions:

www.implodingfictions.com

Attempts on her Life by Martin Crimp was first presented by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre.

Publisher: Nordiska ApS

Photo from OITs reading of Seven Other Children by Richard Stirling. From the left: Sveinung Oppegaard and Torgny G. Aanderaa. Copyright: Michael H. Sciarrone

- Oystein

INVITASJON and INVITATION

Øystein — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:29:32 +0000

Hannah, Sammy and the two Hamletmachine robots, photo: Tamás Kiraly

We come straight from another two successful Hamletmachine performances at the lovely Théâtre la Vignette in Montpellier, to a completely new departure in Oslo: We are starting Oslo International Theatre (OIT), our first big project in Norway. Below you find an invitation (both in Norwegian and English) to our very first rehearsed reading. We hope to see you there!

INVITASJON

Oslo Internasjonale Teater inviterer til iscenesatt lesning av

Sju Jødiske Barn av Caryl Churchill og Sju Andre Barn av Richard Stirling

med påfølgende paneldebatt

Tid: 12. november klokken 19:00

Sted: Vardeteatret, Rådhusgata 19, Oslo

Pris: Fri entré, innsamling til inntekt for Medical Aid for Palestinians og One Voice Movement

Medvirkende: Terje Skonseng Naudeer, Thea Borring Lande, Sveinung Oppegaard, Torgny Aanderaa, Ingrid Askvik og Tor Itai Keilen

Regi: Øystein Ulsberg Brager

OIT presenterer Sju Jødiske Barn av Caryl Churchill og Sju Andre Barn av Richard Stirling med påfølgende paneldebatt, og stiller spørsmålet: Hvilken rolle kan dramatikken spille i forhold til konfliktsituasjoner verden over? Deltagere i panelet er blant annet Gunnar Germundson fra Dramatikerforbundet og litteraturviter Rana Issa. Dramaturg Njål Mjøs leder debatten. Det er fri entré, og OIT vil etter dramatikernes ønske samle inn penger som deles likt mellom Medical Aid for Palestine og One Voice Movement.

Det er begrenset med publikumskapasitet, så hvis du ønsker å sikre plass er det mulig å sende epost med navn og antall publikumere til: oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com

Vi vil etterhvert opprette en egen mailingliste for OIT som kun omhandler våre arrangementer i Norge. Om du ønsker å stå på denne er det hyggelig om du sender en email med «Påmelding OIT nyhetsbrev» i emnefeltet til: oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com

Mer info finnes på http://oslointernasjonaleteater.wordpress.com

Vi håper du kan komme torsdag 12. november!

Hamletmachine in Montpellier, photo: Tamás Kiraly

INVITATION

Oslo International Theatre invites you to a rehearsed reading of

Seven Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill and Seven Other Children by Richard Stirling with a following panel debate

When: 12th November at 7pm

Where: Vardeteatret, Rådhusgata 19, Oslo, Norway

Entry: Free, a collection is made for Medical Aid for Palestinians and One Voice Movement

Cast: Terje Skonseng Naudeer, Thea Borring Lande, Sveinung Oppegaard, Torgny Aanderaa, Ingrid Askvik and Tor Itai Keilen

Directed by: Oystein Ulsberg Brager

The reading will take place in Norwegian.

OIT presents Seven Jewish Children Caryl Churchill and Seven Other Children by Richard Stirling with a following panel debate. We ask the question: What role can the theatre play in relation to areas of conflict around the world? Amongst others the leader of the Norwegian Playwrights’ Organisation, Gunnar Germundson, and fellow of the University of Marburg, Rana Issa, will participate in the debate, which will be moderated by dramaturg Njål Mjøs. Entry is free, and a collection will be made benefitting Medical Aid for Palestinians and One Voice Movement equally.

Audience numbers are limited, so if you wish to reserve a seat please send us an email with your name and the number of people to oslointernasjonaleteater@gmail.com.

For more info see http://oslointernasjonaleteater.wordpress.com

Welcome!

- Oystein

New Imploding Fictions initiative: Oslo International Theatre seeks translators!

Øystein — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:18 +0000

The number of contemporary international plays made available to Norwegian audiences is very limited. Many of the best emerging new plays and playwrights never find their way to the theatres in Oslo. Imploding Fictions has decided to do something about this, and we have therefore started the process of launching a new initiative in Oslo: Oslo International Theatre (OIT).

OIT will translate the best contemporary international plays into Norwegian and present them as rehearsed readings at an Oslo venue. OIT will initially be run as an idealistic, non-profit venture. There is already a lot of interest in this project amongst our Norwegian colleagues, but we still need more people to join in!

At the moment we are specifically looking for people to translate for us. If you have a passion for contemporary drama, share our desire for experiencing more of the best international drama in Norwegian and would like to help us out by translating a play, get in touch! To start off with we are looking for people who can translate from French, German and Croatian, but do get in touch if you speak other languages as well.

We are also interested in hearing from actors and generally anyone who might be excited by this project! Send an email to oysteinbrager@hotmail.com.

Heiner Müller à la sauce britanique – une Interview avec les metteurs en scène Philip Thorne et Oystein Brager

Øystein — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:33:49 +0000

À travers l’exploration de deux textes du
dramaturge allemand Heiner Müller, deux jeunes
metteurs en scène d’outremanche interrogent
la déconstruction progressive d’un monde
où les personnages sont en quête d’eux-mêmes.

Où avez-vous étudié la mise en scène ?

Nous avons été formés durant trois ans dans
une école de théâtre : Rose Bruford College
à Londres. Nous en sommes sortis diplômés
l’an dernier. C’est avant tout une école pour
comédiens mais elle propose également
différents cycles d’études : design, scénographie
et enfin mise en scène. Chaque année, environ
cinq metteurs en scène en sortent. C’est là que
nous nous sommes rencontrés et avons décidé
de monter HamletMachine and The Man in the
Elevator qui était notre spectacle de sortie.

Comment s’est déroulée votre collaboration ?

Très bien. C’est notre première « vraie pièce »
après les exercices d’école et nous avons
beaucoup travaillé en amont, de nombreuses
lectures et de longues discussions, de telle
sorte que nos lignes directrices étaient bien
définies. Au départ, nous nous sommes partagé
le travail entre les deux pièces mais finalement,
nous avons tout fait ensemble. Arrivés au
plateau, nous pouvions diriger ensemble nos
comédiens car nous allions dans le même sens.
En revanche, il a fallu convaincre la direction
de l’école, assez classique, du bien-fondé d’un
tel projet car en Angleterre, Heiner Müller est
très peu monté et ne fait pas encore partie du
répertoire. C’était donc un défi particulièrement
excitant pour nous. On s’est dit : « on le monte
ensemble, on fait un travail d’équipe ».

Quelle était votre volonté en choisissant
d’adapter ces deux textes d’Heiner
Müller ?

À première vue, ces textes peuvent ne rien
avoir en commun, ils sont très denses et les
interprétations sont multiples. Toutefois, ils
parlent tous deux de la déconstruction d’un
monde, de la perte du passé historique de
l’humanité et de la façon dont on s’interroge
pour se retrouver soi-même. Il nous a paru
intéressant de faire de The Man in the elevator
une sorte de prologue d’HamletMachine qui
permet un voyage à travers le temps : tout se
passe comme si deux personnages avaient
survécu à une sorte de cataclysme et se
retrouvaient en même temps qu’ils retrouvent
peu à peu des bribes de passé. Heiner Müller
permet de sortir de la construction classique
d’une pièce, on abandonne la psychologie à la
Stanislavski pour quelque chose de beaucoup
plus trouble et complexe. C’est un matériau qui
offre une grande liberté. Nous avons adapté,
coupé dans le texte de Müller, réinséré des
passages du texte shakespearien, etc.

Votre travail de création va donc dans le
sens de cet éclatement dont vous parlez ?

Certainement. Par exemple, lorsque le comédien
découvre les restes d’une radio dans le sable, un
crâne, un livre il entend alors différents résidus
du passé : la voix de Churchill, de la musique
classique, quelques vers de Shakespeare.
Dans l’Hamlet de Shakespeare, Hamlet est
en dialogue avec le passé qu’il perçoit ; nous
avons voulu rendre cette perception éclatée
du temps, un peu à la manière d’une radio qui
tente de capter une station sans y parvenir de
façon durable.

Kévin Keiss

Ghosts of Past and Present

Øystein — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:43:00 +0000

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