Master thesis in theatre theory: Det nye regiteatret i ljos av samspelet mellom norsk og tysk tradisjon AKA The new director's theatre in light of Norwegian and German tradition

The new director's theatre in light of Norwegian and German tradition (Norwegian: Det nye regiteatret i ljos av samspelet mellom norsk og tysk tradisjon) is a master thesis written by Ragnhild Gjefsen. The Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen, the spring of 2012.

Summary, as written by Gjefsen:
The new director's theatre in light of Norwegian and German tradition. In this master thesis I aim at viewing new Norwegian director's theatre in perspective, by exploring the development of modern director's theatre in Norway compared with German tradition. The 20th century can be seen as three different periods in which I will show how German tradition has influenced the Norwegian director's theatre throughout time, asking how the relationship between the two traditions has changed over the years. Starting with the early 20th century, I take a closer look at some of the most important directors in the two countries and what characterizes their work. 

The first part portrays how the work of Max Reinhardt and Erwin Piscator inspired the Norwegian directors in the period around the First World War. The second large encounter between Norwegian and German tradition begins around 1960. Here it is the work of Bertolt Brecht and his Berliner Ensemble that provides the main inspiration to Norwegians and Germans alike. With Brecht as a common ground, the director's theatre developed in a common direction in West Germany and Norway, through the directors working under Kurt Hübner in Bremen and Erik Pierstorff in Trondheim. 

During the 1990s director's theatre absorbed the post dramatic strategies of the newly developed project theatre movement. German theatre got new important directors, whereas Norwegian tradition was still dominated by the star directors of the 1970s. Around 2000 this changed, and a new interest for German directing appeared. Through the theatre journal Norsk Shakespeare- og teatertidsskrift, editor Therese Bjørneboe strived for a closer connection between the two traditions, and artistic director Eirik Stubø invited German guest plays and guest directors to Nationaltheatret and the Ibsen Festival in Oslo. 

Taking a closer look at three productions, I will connect and compare the new Norwegian director's theatre to its past. The first production is Vegard Vinge and Ida Müller’s staging of Henrik Ibsen’s Vildanden (The Wild Duck) in 2009, the second Sebastian Hartmann's paraphrasing of Henrik Ibsen in 2010 with Ibsenmaskin (The Ibsen Machine), and finally Tore Vagn Lid’s staging of Gerhart Hauptmann's play Før soloppgang (Before Sunrise) in 2011.

By integrating strategies from the project theatre field, director's theatre seems to have taken a new turn during the last decade. Through the work of amongst other Eirik Stubø and Therese Bjørneboe, combined with a rising interest for Nordic theatre in Germany, the tradition of the two countries seems closer and more equal than ever.