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ibsen conference, festival and award
Travelog of Hal Cropp
Thursday, August 28
The flights over went smoothly, though we were seated with bulkhead behind us on the Minneapolis to Amsterdam flight, making sleep for me almost impossible. (Very little makes sleep impossible for Adrienne.) And there were the two long walks between gates in Minneapolis and again in Amsterdam, lugging the heavy back pack and the garment bag which we sought, in vain, to hang up on our flights. (Note to self: check it on the way home).
Friday, August 29
Upon arrival at Oslo airport, we were met by a charming intern at the Nationaltheatret and had an easy 30 minute drive to our hotel, (the scenery looked exactly like southeastern Minnesota!) where we checked in. Alas, no introductory packets were waiting for us, as we had understood. We walked on to the Nationaltheatret, which was only five minutes away (first time out it took about twenty to orient ourselves and discover it) complete with a statue of Henrik Ibsen out front. We had a quick latte while waiting for our first theatrical event, a performance of Rosmersholm in Norwegian with English supertitles. The production, which was done in a very post-modern style, had moments of breathtaking beauty, and a stunner of an ending. It was our first exposure to the “European” school of Ibsen production – a trend which includes significant cuts to the text and a very “face front” presentational style of acting, designed to emphasize the intellectual nature of the script.
After the play we splurged on a dinner at a nearby restaurant, the Theatre Caffeen – mainly because we were too exhausted to comparison shop! Adrienne had mushroom raviolis and I had gravlax and potatoes. Then it was off to sleep.
Saturday, August 30
We awoke on Saturday, had a fabulous breakfast at our hotel, Thon Slottsparken – eggs, fish, meats, cheese, vegetables, fruit, bread and coffee – then strolled to the theatre for a full afternoon of conferencing under the title of “Nora’s Sisters.” The Norwegian Minister of Finance spoke, followed by the director of the National School of Drama in India, a French theatre director, and a Norwegian sociologist expert on gender equity. A break for lunch, during which we reconnected with a friend from Minnesota, in Oslo to study Ibsen at the university. And we finally met our Norwegian contact Inger Buresund, of the Ibsen Awards Committee. Then back to the theatre for three songs by a Norwegian singer and pianist and a panel discussion between a South African theatre professor, Dr. Toril Moi from North Carolina, a Pakistani actress and director, the new head of the Nationaltheatret in Oslo, and the former president of Iceland. The focus was primarily on Ibsen and his role as agent for social change.
Back to the hotel to rest, try to acquire telephone calling cards, arrange for a shipment of forgotten medication, and change. Then it was back to the theatre for a Swedish Hedda Gabler without subtitles (again, post-modern). The production featured the elimination of much of Ibsen’s Act One, including the disappearance of Aunt Juju and Berte the maid, a set (in a black-box, bare bones studio theatre) which consisted of two very long Danish modern leather sofas back to back which rotated to indicate scene changes, and a hyper-realistic tragic ending. This was followed by a sumptuous dinner hosted by Ms. Buresund at Fjord, a new super-chic seafood restaurant. A three course affair with a seafood amuse bouche, a sashimi style appetizer, halibut over vegetables in a mustard/cauliflower reduction, three kinds of wine, and a dessert featuring a chocolate turine, raspberry sorbet, fresh fruit with a mango drizzle and apple soup. The dinner guests included two Pakistanis, three Indians, three Bangladeshis, Ms. Buresand, her husband (a Norwegian lawyer), Adrienne and me. The conversations were quite wide-ranging and stimulating.
On the way to the theatre we were thrilled to come across yet another statue of Ibsen – one with which we were not familiar. A gold-leaf, small statue, this one had a basket in front to collect coins. Upon the urging of Ms. Buresund, I threw in a coin. To our delight the statue began to dance – and SMILE! (Imagine a smiling Ibsen!) Turns out it was not a statue at all but a performance artist!
Finally back to the hotel to further discuss Hedda -- and sleep!
Sunday, August 31
This morning we were shuttled to the Munch Museum, a crew of three Bangladeshis, two Indians, a Pakistani, six Vietnamese, our gracious Norwegian hostess and her daughter and these two Americans. The museum, which had been successfully robbed in 2004 of The Scream and Madonna (both of which have since been returned) is quite modern and highly guarded. The works, breathtaking in their incredible personal expression, reveal Munch to be a highly unhappy man obsessed with the link between life and death and women. We had lunch in the museum cafeteria (Tandoori SOUP, which made the east Asians giggle) and returned to the hotel to prepare for the evening’s festivities.
Our Norwegian leader was VERY strict about meeting times, probably because our group had widely disparate abilities to keep to a timetable – Adrienne greatly appreciated her emphasis on punctuality! So at 3:45 sharp we met at the Nationaltheatret to begin the presentation of the International Ibsen Award. First came our one and only entrance on a red carpet! Then champagne and a delightfully serendipitous meeting with Luther professor Oyyvind Gullikson and his wife Kari (it’s always a joy to spend time with them.) On into the theatre to witness Peter Brook receiving the award from Ibsen’s great grandson!
Brook spoke of Ibsen’s relationship to Shakespeare, as one of three great explosions in the development of theatre, the third being the Greeks. Following that was a very inventive, though ultimately frustrating production of Brand by the Nationaltheatret. It began with a wild orgy set in a huge inflated white plastic igloo with a huge pink pig, much rock music, and orgiastic activities. The play then moved to an open space, presumably on a mountain, with erected tents and the white plastic deflated. Then intermission, which ran long as the scene change was massive. We returned to a space with white drapes, and a big yellow construction scaffold. This was presumably the church that Brand was building and also the mountain he climbs at the end. In keeping with the drastic cuts/rewrites of the previous two productions, Brand smothers his wife (absent from the original), Gerd the herd girl shoots herself complete with much blood (also missing from the text) and Brand cuts his own tongue out and drowns on his own blood (again a new addition). Much blood was to be seen.
Following the show was dinner at yet another high-end fabulous Norwegian seafood restaurant, featuring halibut. Discussion centered around the play and Ibsen’s life, where it turns out I was as well informed as almost everyone at the table, for they looked to me to fill in pertinent facts.
Monday, September 1
Up at 6:30 to pack our room, take our bags to the next hotel and meet the bus at 10 for the trip to Skein for the second half of the conference. The Norwegian countryside is beautiful, very much like northern Minnesota, with lots of granite, pine trees, and water everywhere. (No wonder the Norwegians settled in Minnesota!) We arrived at Ibsenhuset in Norway, a beautiful new arts center built on the site of his family’s last home in town, with art gallery, performance space, and many conference rooms. The conference was action packed: a welcome by Hans Rossine of Norwegian television, a speech by the Norwegian minister of culture, a presentation by the collaboration between the Norwegian Association of Performing Arts and the Vietnamese Academy of Film, a speech by the Bangladesh head of the Censorship Board, lunch, a lecture by a Vietnamese professor of literature on the difficulties of translation as they impact the works of Ibsen…whew… our brains were spinning.
Then the high point of the day—a lecture by Peter Brook on the nature of Ibsen’s work. The key point was that theatre is only successful when it balances the search for the answer to the mysteries of life with a keen depiction of current social conditions while offering comfort to the lowest levels of humanity, a state achieved only rarely in his eyes.
This was followed by a panel discussion on the need and difficulties of infusing cross cultural experiences into modern theatre. On the panel were Oyvind Gullickson, Amal Allana (head of the Royal Academy of Drama in India), the current head of the Norwegian Academy of Arts, Kate Pendry (a British performance artist living and working in Norway) and, uh, me. We each spoke for about ten minutes and then it was opened up to questions of which there were none, thanks mostly to Ms. Pendry’s opinions on the meaninglessness of a life in the theatre and her impassioned plea not to elect the current conservative slate.
Then back to the hotel for a quick wine before the awards dinner (the wine turned out NOT to be complimentary!) We returned to Ibsenhuset for champagne and tables of eight to hear the mayor of Skein welcome us, watch an amazing Norwegian actress, Juni Dahr give us Nora and the lead from The Vikings at Helgeland, some Ibsen poems set to exquisite music, the awarding of the scholarships, complete with acceptance speeches, the awarding of the National Ibsen prize for drama to Edward Hoem, and back to the hotel, where I set the alarm to wake at 8 as we had a 10 A.M. bus to catch for the museum at Venstop. Unfortunately I neglected to activate the alarm, so we awoke at 10:08, furiously packed the room and ordered a taxi to the Ibsen farm-site which is now a national museum. We arrived, heart pounding (and me with NO voice) just as the tour was beginning.
Tuesday, September 2
The museum at Venstop (Ibsen’s childhood home) is amazing. There are furniture pieces from when he was seven -- the large dining hall calls to mind both The Wild Duck and Hedda Gabler, complete with piano and stove. The attic is STRAIGHT out of The Wild Duck, with its nest behind netting, and small bed rooms. There is also a room chock full of Norwegian informational posters and video, with English translations, but given our late arrival we were unable to see much of this at all.
Back to Oslo, where we checked into our new hotel, tried to nap, took a walk through Akerfortress (an old castle and fortress overlooking the Oslo bay), walked past Radhuset, city hall, and off to find a vegetarian restaurant which had recently moved. After a ninety minute stroll, we settled into a Lebanese restaurant for a delightful meal. Then it was back to the hotel where jetlag finally caught up – a 13 hour sleep followed!
Wednesday, September 3
Another terrific breakfast at the buffet of our new hotel, Thon Cecil, one block from the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting. We set off in the footsteps of Ibsen and Munch, as Frommer’s calls, it, strolling along Ibsen’s funeral processional route up Akersgate to the Holy Trinity Church where his funeral was held. Then it was a detour to see a quaint street, reminiscent of Montmartre in Paris, where current Oslo artists reside, past the home of Wergeland to the cemetery where Ibsen, Bjornson, and Munch, among many others, are buried. We placed stones on Ibsen’s grave, a Jewish tradition.
Next we walked to the Ibsen Museum, which is located in his last apartment in Oslo, where he lived from 1895 to his death in 1906. The Museum was chock full of Ibsen information and offered a tour of the apartment which is being restored to its 1895 luster, complete with original furnishings, fixtures, and even restored walls and floors. The opulence in which he and Susannah spent their final years was surprising, as was the portrait of Strindberg which hangs in his study. When Strindberg rejected the painting, Ibsen bought it, wishing to keep his enemy close.
The bulk of the museum is a compendium of film, pictures, and memorabilia, organized around thematic segments of Ibsen’s life and work: women, heroes, religion, homeland, society, etc. The gift shop proved another treasure trove with several fine translations of his plays, books of criticism, biography, and videos, some of which Adrienne had been seeking for years.
After a quick trek back to the hotel to drop off packages, we strolled the two miles to Frogner Park and the Viggeland sculptures. This beautifully maintained park has over 200 sculptures, all depicting humans in various stages of life. We ended our stroll through the park, watching the dogs frolic at the dog park portion of the park. Then it was a short two mile stroll back to the hotel, with a stop at our first KIWI mini pris to pick up fixin’s for a late-lunch.
That evening’s performance, The Wild Duck, in Hungarian with Norwegian subtitles, felt closer to a Commonweal production than anything we’d seen, and the emotional power of the piece was very present at the end for Hedwig’s death. The first act set, which was strangely reminiscent of our own production, featured frosted glass panels/doors, behind which the party happened. The scene shift, accomplished behind a black curtain, involved swinging this party wall up into a skylight, revealing the garret style apartment and large sliding industrial door to the attic-menagerie, which led to a beautiful end of act moment with Old Ekdal wandering into the menagerie amid a snow shower of feathers. Then a late night supper at Brasserie 45, overlooking Karl Johan’s Gate, on the second floor of the building: good food, great ambience, highly recommended by both Frommers and Rick Steves travel guides.
Thursday, September 4
Thursday we awoke to a full schedule of appointments. After yet another fabulous buffet breakfast, it was off to the Nationaltheatret to meet with Ba Clementsen, Ibsen Festival director, and Gerd Stahl, dramaturg for the company. We discussed how the two theatres might collaborate, the nature of the work we had been seeing, the difference between Norwegians, who grow up seeing Ibsen annually, and Americans, who have, at best, a passing familiarity with his work, and the difference between how the two companies function, ensemble, financing, even locale.
Then back to the hotel to debrief, refresh, and grab umbrellas, as it began to pour. We set off for the Center for Ibsen Studies, but stopped at the Ibsen Museum to pick up the desired DVDs, and while there, met our friends from India, Amal and Nissar Allana, who were just finishing a meeting with Erik Eriksen, director of the Museum. Adrienne had corresponded with him prior to our journey but a meeting hadn’t been coordinated. It was wonderful to put a face to the name, however, and he gave us a copy of the Museum’s Ibsen Year 2006’s hardcover publication.
Next stop was the Center for Ibsen Studies in the Oslo University Observatory. We arrived a bit early and met Charles, a Fulbright scholar from Berkeley, who was focusing his work on Ibsen and the current environmental movement. Then it was in to meet Frode Helland, director of the Center. He gave us a brief tour of the building and introduced us to one of the librarians, who spent the next half hour showing us around the electronic Ibsen bibliography, maintained by the Center. When we introduced ourselves as being from Minnesota, she asked, “Lanesboro?” and proceeded to tell us that they have all the information we’ve been sending to Norway for the past six years archived on site.
Then we were off to the National Library, armed with scholarly collections of essays published by the Center, to meet with Benedicte Bernzen of Ibsen.net. We spent a pleasant hour discussing Ibsen.net’s efforts to maintain a thorough collection of all things currently being produced, as well as our own impressions of the past four days (Benedicte had been in Skein with us) and opinions about recent Ibsen productions.
No trip to Oslo is complete without a pint at the Grand Café where Ibsen took his afternoon walks. They have a table set up, complete with hat, where he drank a glass of German beer specially imported for him every afternoon.
We stopped back at the hotel for a change of walking gear and set off to find, once again, the famous vegetarian restaurant we’d been seeking since Tuesday. Arriving at the location, we found a huge crowd of mostly students gathered at the door and decided that this wasn’t going to be the pre-theatre dinner experience we were seeking. We did stop for some sushi, sake and a latte at a café on Akersgata, before setting off for our final theatre experience of the trip, an experimental production of Enemy of the People by the Nationaltheatret in Norwegian without subtitles. This was a very cut, 98 minute version of the play which relied heavily on elements of physical theatre: contact improvisation, extreme physicalizations, even dance, to illustrate what the director felt was happening in the moment – very interesting but on the whole, for those of us who understood no Norwegian, unsatisfying.
Then down to Akers Brygge, the modern shopping, eating, and living area just west of the City Hall on the water, where we discovered a fantastic Indian restaurant, Agra, with possibly the best food we’d had.
Friday, September 5
We awoke Friday morning with the full knowledge that this, our last day in Oslo, had no theatre commitments whatsoever. The closest we came was a quick trip on Oslo’s Muni back to the Munch Museum, to see if the English museum guides, unavailable before, had come in. They had not. Then we headed back to the piers to book a two hour Fjord cruise and stroll through Akers Brygge in daylight. We did discover some unique, carved, sit-able art and some interesting shops and made it back to the pier to catch the boat tour. It was a fascinating trip with a very articulate guide, seeing parts of Oslo we had not, including the ski jump and the new Opera House from the Fjord. It was also fascinating to see the number of summer homes on the various islands, well kept and painted in traditional Norwegian colors.
Upon our return, we headed next to the Resistance Museum, where we learned of the Norwegian efforts to cope with, frustrate, and finally overcome the Nazi occupation – a truly moving experience. Then a short stop for souvenirs and an outdoor latte. We headed back to the room to pre-pack and change for dinner. We strolled through Slottsparken to the sight of our first hotel. Then, up two streets and through an alley, we happened upon Rust, a tapas restaurant run by the sister of our company photographer Katrina Myrah. We had a delightful dinner, chatted with sister Tonie, and leisurely strolled, without the aid of a map through the back streets and alleys to our hotel, where we finished the pre-pack, answered e-mails and went to bed for our departure next morning.
All in all, an action-packed, highly educational week!