The Hedda Award 2018

"The seamless performance is created when different elements flow into one another without interruption. Still, the spectators find that each element on its own is absolutely necessary for the whole of it. This is true for the production awarded with the audiovisual design award this year. It takes place in a large room with few performers and a minimum of props. The more important the music and the use of light become. To a large degree, sound and lighting define the production for which the award is given. Sound and light provide it with pulse and depth. The interaction between the elements give the spectators an intense experience of witnessing a Greek tragedy- which we, as it happens, do.

The award goes to Elisabeth Nesset, Alf Lund Godbolt, Norunn Standal and Vibeke Blydt-Hansen for Antigone."

"The seamless performance is created when different elements flow into one another without interruption. Still, the spectators find that each element on its own is absolutely necessary for the whole of it. This is true for the production awarded with the audiovisual design award this year. It takes place in a large room with few performers and a minimum of props. The more important the music and the use of light become. To a large degree, sound and lighting define the production for which the award is given. Sound and light provide it with pulse and depth. The interaction between the elements give the spectators an intense experience of witnessing a Greek tragedy- which we, as it happens, do.

The award goes to Elisabeth Nesset, Alf Lund Godbolt, Norunn Standal and Vibeke Blydt-Hansen for Antigone."

"The seamless performance is created when different elements flow into one another without interruption. Still, the spectators find that each element on its own is absolutely necessary for the whole of it. This is true for the production awarded with the audiovisual design award this year. It takes place in a large room with few performers and a minimum of props. The more important the music and the use of light become. To a large degree, sound and lighting define the production for which the award is given. Sound and light provide it with pulse and depth. The interaction between the elements give the spectators an intense experience of witnessing a Greek tragedy- which we, as it happens, do.

The award goes to Elisabeth Nesset, Alf Lund Godbolt, Norunn Standal and Vibeke Blydt-Hansen for Antigone."

"The seamless performance is created when different elements flow into one another without interruption. Still, the spectators find that each element on its own is absolutely necessary for the whole of it. This is true for the production awarded with the audiovisual design award this year. It takes place in a large room with few performers and a minimum of props. The more important the music and the use of light become. To a large degree, sound and lighting define the production for which the award is given. Sound and light provide it with pulse and depth. The interaction between the elements give the spectators an intense experience of witnessing a Greek tragedy- which we, as it happens, do.

The award goes to Elisabeth Nesset, Alf Lund Godbolt, Norunn Standal and Vibeke Blydt-Hansen for Antigone."

"This year's best direction winner has developed a distinct artistic oeuvre with productions characterised by high quality, well-considered solutions and precise instruction of actors. The winning work is an excellent example of how the limits of fourth wall theatre can be expanded when diligent attention is paid to every detail and when there is a will to let the text shine for itself. The production for which the award is given is made through teamwork where many good powers have contributed, and yet the spectator can't be in doubt that the director has made a personal stamp on it. This year's winner has already been able to develop a personal signature, despite still being a newcomer within the profession. He seems to have a predilection for the minimalist, a style he masters in formats big and small.

The award goes to Johannes Holmen Dahl for The Glass Menagerie."

"The award winner this year excels in a superb interpretation of a role with great demands to the character's changes and development. Through fine nuances and sharp details, he creates depth with a humorous crack. The actor masterly balances between the symbolic and the personal, between illness and individual. He gives life to anger and vulnerability, anxiety and regret, in a very memorable performance. The production, and the interpretation of the role, deal with big issues concerning life and death. At a human and at a mythical level, the many facets of existence. The acting is done with a nerve that affects the audiences, and the actor also impresses with his stamina.

The best leading actor award goes to Hermann Sabado for Angels in America."

"The award winner in the best leading actress category has performed what is a demanding assignment. The way she has solved it shows how much of an effect even the subtlest of nuances may bring. The acting is unusually finely tuned. Every movement, every statement and every pause the actress makes is loaded with meaning. The spectator can see every thought her character makes. The spectator can see every estimation the character makes. The characters surrounding her character do not necessarily the same, but she shows how the character does understand the rest. It is great art of acting, not made easier by the fact that the character is a young girl, seen through flashbacks.

The award goes to Ragne Grande for The Glass Menagerie."

"Traditionally, theatre for children has been fast-paced and aiming to trigger the imagination. Increasingly often it is also low-key and reflective. This year's award winner is both. It is colourful and flexible, and it underlines the ability children have in processing reality through playing. Through playing, the characters reflect, and they share personal dilemmas. They imagine what no longer is, and what nobody knows will be. The adults are in the periphery, but they do create a sense of security surrounding the central dilemmas yet the same. They can handle the practicalities, whereas the children's solutions are conveyed through deeply personal perspectives on identity and change.

The Hedda Award in the best production for children category goes toTobias og dagen det smalt* (Tobias and the day of the bang)."

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

"This year's winner in the best production for youth category fulfils all the demands of the jury's criteria. The artistic level is high. The production has a distinctcharacter, and it joins one of our most topical current debates. It presents original and challenging material in an artistically coherent way. The winning production succeeds in uniting contrasting and painful experiences in a coherent artistic expression, within which young individualists are provided with platforms for their own voices, while sharing one joint tone. The theatrical effects support the themes, and what lacks words, is expressed through dance and song. With its true, involving stories and its poetic stage expression, the winner expands the understanding of what it may mean to find one's place in contemporary Norway.

The award goes to Utafor* (Outside)." 

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

"Stage design rarely plays more of a role than the actors in a performance. The award in the best stage design/costume design this year goes to a performance where this is the case. Here, the stage design has the very leading role, and not even words such as creative, original or innovative suffice in describing it. The onstage expression moves between the funny and the surprising, the hysterical and the grandioso, the mechanical and the human. Preparations have been expansive, and the work has demanded much from the designer, measured in artistic insight as well as in technical craft. The final result seems like a work of art in itself.

The Hedda Award goes to Gilles Berger for Garage."

"A supporting role can be decisive for the whole of a production. It can expand the picture and create contrasts to its main features. Such a role often affects the flow and the rhythm of the performance. It can make moods shift, and it can increase the understanding of the environment as well as the challenges the main characters meet. In the production for which the award is given, the award winner does all of this. The role he interprets is not big in size, but he has found room for diverse flourish and nuanced character depiction. He has combined merriment and solemnity at a swishing fast pace, and his entertainer talent reaches full score. He also sings and dances, and this with great confidence.

This year, the best supporting actor award goes to Preben Hodneland for The Book of Mormon."

"This year's award winner in the best supporting actress category is an actress who elegantly and credibly moves between the down-to-earth and the intangible. She tours the dry and rough and the poetic and warm. At one and the same time, she conveys the humorous and the solemn. She handles the transcendental with natural acceptance. In the performance for which she gets the award, she switches between several different roles. They all seem like different personalities, each with its strong and its vulnerable points. At the same time, she manages to connect them with an undertone they have in common: They are all independent thinkers. They all have the power to resist.

This year's award goes to Ågot Sendstad for Angels in America."

"This year's winner in the text for the stage category has performed an assignment that is often overlooked in discussions about text within theatre. At times, it is even said that when this work is done well, it shouldn't be noticed. In the winning text, the work is done so well it is indeed noticed. It can't have been simple. Satire can be split into two main categories: The satire that makes it clear that it is satirical, and the satire that leaves to the recipient to define it as such. In the winning work, the stated and unstated satire are combined in a linguistically playful party of a text. Both the levels and the levels between them have been translated with a surefire sense of double and triple meanings, and for the musicality and rhythm of words and sentences. The result is no less than incredible.

The best text for the stage award this year goes to Are Kalvø for The Book of Mormon."

"If we look back on the origins of theatre, we can see that theatre criticism- or at least, reflecting upon and discussing performing arts and drama in writing- is if not as old as theatre itself, then pretty close. Throughout history, performing arts is accompanied by discourse. Without it, it would be hard to go back and understand former practices, as much (SIC) criticism and reflections have had an important function in its contemporary times, for generations of performing artists and theatre workers.

Today, this discourse is under pressure. Theatre theory studies are weakened and articles about and reviews of performing arts live at the mercy of mainstream media. Some consider it as decline, others look at it in a more pragmatic manner, but we all agree that written reflection upon our profession must be upheld, and that we need to act, when the rest of society fails.

The Hedda Committee wishes to honour a person whose work as an editor who for 20 years has been at the centre for maintaining and developing the conversation about performing arts. We wish to give our honorary award to an editor who more than anybody else, and with an almost incomprehensible capacity for work, has lifted us, involved us, made us compare ourselves to others, at home and abroad - and who, not least, has encouraged the field itself to reflect, write and interview one another, and who has given room for expansive, well-argued reviews. The journal she edits has been called one of the best in Europe within its field. This is likely true. Most important is it that it is for us.

We are deeply grateful for the effort that is put into it, and it delights us much to give the Honorary Hedda to the editor of Norsk Shakespearetidsskrift, Therese Bjørneboe."

"The award winner in the production of the year category is a giant effort that has become a giant success. The same title has made up the basis for great draws in cities like New York and London, but the Norwegian production for which the award is given is far more than an adjustment of an international success. The direction is tight and precise. The ensemble sparkles, and both established names and talented newcomers are provided with enough space to flourish and excel. At every level, a well-tuned artistic team has managed to make its mark on a concept in which levels are already many and the possibilities for interpretation even more. All of this has led to a production that can be likened to a lighthouse, to fireworks, and a party, with confident timing in its acting, its music and its choreography.

This year's award goes to The Book of Mormon."

"One should not take for granted that The Hedda Award in the special artistic achievement category will be given out. This year, it goes to a unique theatre event, an example that great things may happen when faith, hope and stamina are allowed to work together. Faith can become theatre and hope can turn into reality. Different elements can be gathered in such a way that the whole becomes larger than the sum of its parts. What happens then is what all art strives for: New reality is made, and understandings grow. This demands enthusiasm, patience and personal courage. It demands that one sticks to one's vision. It also demands that one puts in hard and expansive work in the text and the onstage expression. This year's award is shared by an experienced theatre maker and four young idealists who have dared to confront the unknown within and outside of themselves. They have shared experiences, missteps, sorrows and spite. They have shared joy, humour and triumph.

This year, the special artistic achievement award goes to Svein Tindberg, Faten Mahdi Al-Hussaini, Yousef Bartho Al-Nahi, Siri Marie Seim Sønstelie and Tor Itai Keilen for Utafor* (Outside)."

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

"One should not take for granted that The Hedda Award in the special artistic achievement category will be given out. This year, it goes to a unique theatre event, an example that great things may happen when faith, hope and stamina are allowed to work together. Faith can become theatre and hope can turn into reality. Different elements can be gathered in such a way that the whole becomes larger than the sum of its parts. What happens then is what all art strives for: New reality is made, and understandings grow. This demands enthusiasm, patience and personal courage. It demands that one sticks to one's vision. It also demands that one puts in hard and expansive work in the text and the onstage expression. This year's award is shared by an experienced theatre maker and four young idealists who have dared to confront the unknown within and outside of themselves. They have shared experiences, missteps, sorrows and spite. They have shared joy, humour and triumph.

This year, the special artistic achievement award goes to Svein Tindberg, Faten Mahdi Al-Hussaini, Yousef Bartho Al-Nahi, Siri Marie Seim Sønstelie and Tor Itai Keilen for Utafor* (Outside)."

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

"One should not take for granted that The Hedda Award in the special artistic achievement category will be given out. This year, it goes to a unique theatre event, an example that great things may happen when faith, hope and stamina are allowed to work together. Faith can become theatre and hope can turn into reality. Different elements can be gathered in such a way that the whole becomes larger than the sum of its parts. What happens then is what all art strives for: New reality is made, and understandings grow. This demands enthusiasm, patience and personal courage. It demands that one sticks to one's vision. It also demands that one puts in hard and expansive work in the text and the onstage expression. This year's award is shared by an experienced theatre maker and four young idealists who have dared to confront the unknown within and outside of themselves. They have shared experiences, missteps, sorrows and spite. They have shared joy, humour and triumph.

This year, the special artistic achievement award goes to Svein Tindberg, Faten Mahdi Al-Hussaini, Yousef Bartho Al-Nahi, Siri Marie Seim Sønstelie and Tor Itai Keilen for Utafor* (Outside)."

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

"One should not take for granted that The Hedda Award in the special artistic achievement category will be given out. This year, it goes to a unique theatre event, an example that great things may happen when faith, hope and stamina are allowed to work together. Faith can become theatre and hope can turn into reality. Different elements can be gathered in such a way that the whole becomes larger than the sum of its parts. What happens then is what all art strives for: New reality is made, and understandings grow. This demands enthusiasm, patience and personal courage. It demands that one sticks to one's vision. It also demands that one puts in hard and expansive work in the text and the onstage expression. This year's award is shared by an experienced theatre maker and four young idealists who have dared to confront the unknown within and outside of themselves. They have shared experiences, missteps, sorrows and spite. They have shared joy, humour and triumph.

This year, the special artistic achievement award goes to Svein Tindberg, Faten Mahdi Al-Hussaini, Yousef Bartho Al-Nahi, Siri Marie Seim Sønstelie and Tor Itai Keilen for Utafor* (Outside)."

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

"One should not take for granted that The Hedda Award in the special artistic achievement category will be given out. This year, it goes to a unique theatre event, an example that great things may happen when faith, hope and stamina are allowed to work together. Faith can become theatre and hope can turn into reality. Different elements can be gathered in such a way that the whole becomes larger than the sum of its parts. What happens then is what all art strives for: New reality is made, and understandings grow. This demands enthusiasm, patience and personal courage. It demands that one sticks to one's vision. It also demands that one puts in hard and expansive work in the text and the onstage expression. This year's award is shared by an experienced theatre maker and four young idealists who have dared to confront the unknown within and outside of themselves. They have shared experiences, missteps, sorrows and spite. They have shared joy, humour and triumph.

This year, the special artistic achievement award goes to Svein Tindberg, Faten Mahdi Al-Hussaini, Yousef Bartho Al-Nahi, Siri Marie Seim Sønstelie and Tor Itai Keilen for Utafor* (Outside)."

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.