Balkongen
The avant-garde venue Balkongen was started by actress and director Agnes Mowinckel in 1927.
Mowinckel established Balkongen in opposition to the traditional bourgeois theatre. She sought new drama and new, more theatrical principles for staging. Mowinckel also performed.
The opening performance at Balkongen was The God of Vengeance by the Jewish writer Sholem Asch. Max Reinhardt had formerly made her aware of Asch, and the play had been staged in Poland, Russia and Berlin (staged by Max Reinhardt). When it was performed at Broadway in 1923 the whole cast was prosecuted for obscenities.
Balkongen only lasted for nine months, but still the theatre was a mark of something new and significant in Norwegian theatre history.
Sources:
Gjefsen, Ragnhild: 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), The University of Bergen. 2012
Store Norske Leksikon, snl.no, 16.08.2012, http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Agnes_Mowinckel/utdypning
Wikipedia, Sholem Asch, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholem_Asch
Information
(Objekt ID 29870)| Object type | Organization |
| Organization type | Programming, Producing |
| Main focus | Theatre |
| Established | 1927 (closed May 1928) |
Contact information
| Address | Stortingsgata 26, Oslo, Norway |
Other information
| Legal entity | Other |
| Title | Premiere |
|---|---|
| Cabaret Intime | – May 5, 1928 |
| Dybbuk | – April 27, 1928 |
| De røde dråber | – March 27, 1928 |
| Fruen fra havet | – February 28, 1928 |
| Toni | – January 24, 1928 |
| Nygift eller - ? | – December 26, 1927 |
| Snobben | – December 3, 1927 |
| Periferi | – October 13, 1927 |
| The God of Vengeance | – September 9, 1927 |
| Title | Premiere |
|---|---|
| Cabaret Intime | – May 5, 1928 – Balkongen |
| Dybbuk | – April 27, 1928 – Balkongen |
| De røde dråber | – March 27, 1928 – Balkongen |
| Fruen fra havet | – February 28, 1928 – Balkongen |
| Toni | – January 24, 1928 – Balkongen |
| Nygift eller - ? | – December 26, 1927 – Balkongen |
| Snobben | – December 3, 1927 – Balkongen |
| Periferi | – October 13, 1927 – Balkongen |
| The God of Vengeance | – September 9, 1927 – Balkongen |
| Agnes Mowinckel | – Artistic director (fra 1927 til 1928) |
| Gregori Danilovitsch | – Stage designer (fra 1927 til 1928) |
| Alexey Zaitzow | – Stage designer (fra 1927 til 1927) |