Hilde Brinchmann

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, in a new adaption and directed by Hilde Brinchmann for Brageteatret, won The Hedda Award 2015 in the best production for children and youth category.

The Hedda Jury gave the following reason:

"The theatre offering for children and youth is often criticised for being artistically not very ambitious or innovative. Instead of experiments one chooses the traditional, in which the audience knows what to get, and gets what it thinks it wants. Because of this, it is delightful that several of this year's nominees in different ways challenge our expectations to what theatre for children and youth is, and how it can be done. This year's award winner met the children s desire for knowledge, curiosity and involvement in theatre with an extraordinary courageous openness, without losing the grip of the work s magic, direction or progression of plot. A unique and exclusive theatre experience in which a physically participating audience was permitted its own role in the fairytale.

The best production for children and youth award of the year goes to The Wizard of Oz."

Mio, My Son, directed by Brinchmann, received The Hedda Award 2019 in the best production for children category.

The Hedda Jury gave the following reason for the award to Mio, My Son:

"The Hedda Jury has made notice of the fact that many of this season's productions have a political slant, in which the messages are snuck in sideways and appeal to the audience's emotions rather than screaming out loud. This year's best production for children is also an example of this.

It takes use of sound, lighting, costumes, masks and stage design in a way where everything is experienced as new, filled with expectation and life, despite the darkness looming behind, around and above us. The theatrical meeting in itself lets us withstand the evil surrounding us.

The stage effects are beautiful and they are used so dynamically naturally that one may first experience them as simple. When the history unfolds, the body is the first to notice the effect of the elegant combination of puppetry, physical theatre, storytelling theatre and the strikingly alive stage design. In thread with the textual material, the performance conveys how to find hope and comfort in sombre times. The adults who have exited this performance for children sobbing are not few."

Nothing, directed by Hilde Brinchmann, received The Hedda Award 2019 in the best production for youth category.

The Hedda Jury gave the following reason for the award to Nothing:

"Creating theatre that meets youth on their own terms, while sharing wisdom about the many hard choices that, regardless of perspective, characterise the transition between young and adult, is an art. The production that has impressed us the most unites great ambitions and intimate details, and it manages the deed it is to connect difficult and significant themes to the individual, and to thoughts about value in oneself and hope in the future. And this without losing sight of its audience. We are drawn in, into delight and entertainment, but to a larger degree we are informed and mentally beaten by a coordinated ensemble's original, shocking and exciting dissolution of space and limits, between individual decisions and group mentality."

SOURCES:

The Hedda Award, heddaprisen.no, 20.05.2015, http://www.heddaprisen.no/pub/heddaprisen/main/?aid=1306

The Hedda Award, heddaprisen.no, 21.06.2015, http://heddaprisen.no/pub/heddaprisen/main/?aid=1367

The Hedda Award, 14.10.19, https://www.heddaprisen.no/vinnere/2019

Sceneweb on The Hedda Award, www.sceneweb.no, 14.10.19, https://sceneweb.no/nb/awarding/93019/Heddaprisen_2019-2019

• Tigerstadsteatret - Artistic director (from 2015 to )