Run! Now!

Run! Now! (2016) is a documentary theatre production by Pia Maria Roll, in co-production with Ibsen Theatre and Brageteatret.

Pia Maria Roll directed it.

The text is written by Roll in collaboration with Sara Baban and Buzhan Baban, based on the Baban family history, and the siblings' experiences as child refugees.

Run! Now! was nominated for The Hedda Award 2016 in the best production for children and youth category.

Information

(Objekt ID 53979)
Object type Production
Premiere 2016
Produced by
Coproducers Brageteatret, Ibsen Theatre
Audience Children, Youth
Language Norwegian
Keywords Theatre, Performance for children, Performance for youth, Documentary
Running period 2016  
More

At the webpage of Brageteatret the following, among other things, is written about Run! Now!:

"In 1986 eight year old Sara and three year old Buzhan flee their home in Iraqi Kurdistan. Saddam Hussein has declared Kurdistan a 'forbidden area' and even wild animals are shot. The siblings are refugees for eight years before they are granted asylum in Norway, they grow up in Tønsberg and they both train as actors. In Run! Now! they tell their dramatic story with humour and musicality in this highly topical performance.

Pia Maria Roll has made her mark as one of the most noteworthy theatre artists in the country and she has received several awards for her documentary productions. This is her first production for an audience of children."

Run! Now! is supported by Arts Council Norway. The production is part of the research and development project SceSam.

SOURCES:

Brageteatret, 17.03.16, http://www.brageteatret.no/forestilling/na-loper-vi/

Sentralen, 17.03.16, http://www.sentralen.no/arrangement/teaterlordag-ung-n-loper-vi

Contributors (12)
Name Role
Sara Baban – Text
Buzhan Baban – Text
Pia Maria Roll – Text
Pia Maria Roll – Direction
Helle Siljeholm – Choreography
Kai Johnsen – Dramaturge
Jennie Hagevik Bringaker – Stage design
Jon Platou Selvig – Sound
Ida Ellinor Andersson – Light
Sara Baban – Actor
Buzhan Baban – Actor
Catherine Haanes – Producer
Performance dates
September 13, 2017Multisalen, Kilden (SAND-festivalen) Show
February 28, 2017Klosterøya, Ibsen Theatre Show
February 27, 2017Klosterøya, Ibsen Theatre Show
February 24, 2017Klosterøya, Ibsen Theatre Show
February 23, 2017Klosterøya, Ibsen Theatre Show
February 22, 2017Klosterøya, Ibsen Theatre Show
February 21, 2017Vinjehuset Show
February 20, 2017Papirhuset Teater Show
September 25, 2016Malersalen, Nationaltheatret, The National Theatre (The Ibsen Festival) Show
September 2016  (Teaterfestivalen i Fjaler ) Show
2016 Worldwide premiere
Festivals (3)
SAND-festivalen September 13, 2017
The Ibsen Festival September 25, 2016
Teaterfestivalen i Fjaler September 2016
Press coverage

Chris Erichsen, Åtte år i helvete (literally: Eight years in hell), Scenekunst.no, February 11 2016:

"We who see and listen get to take part in a story in which we get a uniquely direct look into how these small children meet and handle the enormous challenges and struggles they are confronted with in their eight-year-long infernal wandering towards the liberating message in 1993 that they are accepted as quota refugees and allowed to travel to Norway and Tønsberg. The story has, despite being both upsetting and deeply moving, a comfortable, harmonic drive, in which a repeated effect is a current phone call between Sara and the children's mother. Here, Pia Maria Roll has, as many times before, had Kai Johnsen on her team as a dramaturge. It is obviously a lucky combination. Cautiously physical, choreographic incisions by Helle Siljeholm provides, with the finely tuned sound work by Jon Platou, the whole thing a nice, sometimes slightly queer character."

Lillian Bikset, Nøkternt, sterkt og personlig teater, med følsomhet, men aldri føleri (literally: Sober, strong and personal theatre, with sensitivity, but never sentimentality), Dagbladet, March 12 2016:

"The child's memories, the child's thoughts and the child's feelings, the child's accept and the child's protest are conveyed through a grown-up selection, with the grown-up's understanding of everything that was impossible to understand back then. This double perspective makes sure that the children of the audience understand. Run! Now! is a story with a lot of information. The selection wisely conveys the grand, comprehensive insights through the small, telling details. Some things both of them remember. Some things the elder sister has to tell her younger brother. Some things they have likely been told by others, the elder siblings, perhaps, or the mother, so often they now perceive it as memories. Much is also forgotten, unclear. As Sara says, in the very beginning of the performance, 'I have spent many years not telling this story. I haven't had the strength to relate to it'."