Norwegian Critics' Award 2001/02

Ballet dancer Christine Thomassen won The Norwegian Critics' Award (dance) 2001/2002 for the main part of the ballet Sleeping Beauty, with choreography by Mats Ek and music by Peter Tchaikovsky. Guri Pahle Glad, critic of Klassekampen and former soloist in The Norwegian National Ballet, delivered the award, a drawing by Ulf Aas. 

Source:

Norwegian Critics' Association, kritikerlaget.no, 29.09.2011, http://www.kritikerlaget.no/pages/nor/61-dansekritikerprisen_til_christine_thomassen

Yngve Kvistad said the following, among other things, in his award ceremony speech on behalf of Norwegian Critics' Association:

"The Norwegian Critics' Award she gets for her interpretation of the title role in Mother Courage, also a debut work for a director, Tyra Tønnessen. Colleague Andreas Wiese in Dagbladet wrote enthusiastically in his review of the play: 'She is Mother Courage! We see her mistakes, her impossible choices, her raw and brutal will to survive. At the same time we believe in her love to her children, as she loses them, one by one...'

Another critic, my modesty prohibits me from mentioning his name, wrote in VG: 'Her interpretation of the title role in Brecht's anti-war drama is another superior effort from the versatile actress. In two and a half hours she is alive onstage - as a war profiteer and a mother.'

At the end I will be so indiscreet as to reveal some of the conversation across the table, as Norwegian Critics' Association nominated and discussed this year's candidates for The Norwegian Critics' Award: We gathered around the name relatively quickly, and that was when one of the critics who hadn't seen Mother Courage who commented: 'Without having seen this performance in particular I know what she represents. I have yet to see her act a bad part, a contour-lacking character or a misunderstood interpretation.'

The Norwegian Critics' Award for theatre for 2001/2002 goes - for the first time - to Trøndelag Theatre and actress Hildegunn Eggen."

The complete speech can be read at the webpage of Norwegian Critics' Association (link in Norwegian only).

Source:

Norwegian Critics' Association, kritikerlaget.no, 29.09.2011, http://www.kritikerlaget.no/pages/nor/22-teaterkritikerprisen_til_hildegunn_eggen