Sacred Blood

Sacred Blood – a work based on Beyond the longest mile by Ola Jonsmoen gained considerable attention in the media when it was made known that the members of The Tynset Project had paid the members of the Latvian theatre company Teatris Observatorija a sum corresponding to 30 Norwegian kroner per hour to stage and perform the historical play, originally known from the valley of Tylldalen.

Beyond the longest mile is the sequel to the historical play Dei urolege av hjarte (literally: The Uneasy of Heart), both performed in the valley of Tylldalen, the former in the year 2000. Playwright Ola Jonsmoen allowed The Tynset Project to use his text, but according to the newspaper Østlendingen the project caused shaking of heads among the citizens of Tylldalen: "The project has taken a whole other turn than what the people behind The Tynset Project originally presented to us, says [production leader Dagne] Olsberg."

The production itself took the shape of a future vision. The St. Olav play Beyond the longest mile is about the entry of Christianity in Norway during the 1100ds. The legend tells the story about the doubt and faith the peasants felt towards the new religion and how the blood of St. Olaf gave people in Tylldal their sight back. Central is also the love story between the young woman True and the blind Kristens. The play functions as a foundation for the very different adapted version of Teatra Observatorija. Several hundred years into the future we meet people who have lost emotions and sight after an environmental disaster. Only those who still have the ability to cry have kept their sense of sight.

In a laboratory in Norway biologic research is made on blood plasma from the cave of St. Olaf. This is because the future humans have heard about the wonders of St. Olav and they are studying the play of Ola Jonsmoen in hope of a cure to save the sight of people.

In this futurist landscape scenic traces of the traditional peasant play are found; Jaw harp, clothes, grey stones, stick fights and bombastic peasant romance. The futurist humans stage selected sequences in their research on past humans and mysteries. This effect works as a parallel story as well as a comment to the future history. The characters have names and issues corresponding to the original text.

In her review of the production Elisabeth Leinslie wrote: "But what is the art work of the project? Is it the Norwegian artists staging of themselves as slick bureaucrats in suits and ties, with water-combed hair? Is it the playfulness surrounding the very Norwegian peasant play? Or is it the performance by the Latvian company? Is it the outsourcing stunt? The answer is that we can’t, in this regard, eliminate one in favour of the other. The Tynset Project is conceptual art and has to be considered as a whole."

In an interview published by Scenekunst.no then editor Julie M. Løddesøl asked whether the project had fooled many. Kjetil Skøien pointed out that the only person who had let her be fooled was the then leader of The Norwegian Actors’ Equity Association/NAEA, Agnete Haaland, who had publically criticised the salaries prior to getting to know the conceptual frame of the project. Skøien also assured Løddesøl that the Latvian tariff was only paid to the company while in Riga. In Norway the company was paid Norwegian salaries, plus getting their stay and diet expenses covered.

Sacred Blood – a work based on Beyond the longest mile by Ola Jonsmoen was supported with 270 000 kroner from Arts Council Norway.

Sources: Traavik info - BAK LENGSTE MIL / THE TYNSET PROJECT (literally: Beyond the longest mile/The Tynset Project) Oslo/Riga 2006, traavik.info, 30.12.2010, http://www.traavik.info/index.php/the-tynset-project---2006.html

Leinslie, Elisabeth (22.04.2006). Review titled Bygdespel på metaplan (literally: Peasant play on a meta-level) Dagsavisen, dagsavisen.no, 30.12.2010, http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/article278278.ece

Løddelsøl, Julie (20.04.2006). Article titled Østeuropeisk Tylldalspel (literally: Eastern European Tylldal Play). Scenekunst, scenekunst.no, 30.12.2010, http://www2.scenekunst.no/artikkel_2316.nml

Løddelsøl, Julie (20.04.2006). Article titled Østeuropeisk Tylldalspel (literally: Eastern European Tylldal Play). Scenekunst, scenekunst.no, 30.12.2010, http://www2.scenekunst.no/artikkel_2316.nml
"But the opening also revealed another effect; the production uses parts of a well-known historical play, it has been taken out of its local context and is given a whole new shape. The Eastern European may be most obvious in the use of laboratory glassware, dentist’s chair and laboratory, there is something of Soviet above the clinical study of people."

Kristensen, Eivind (30.03.2006). Article titled Spiller teater for 30 kroner timen (Playing theatre for 30 kroner per hour). Dagbladet, dagbladet.no, 30.12.2010, http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/03/30/462290.html
"- We were assigned 270 000 kroner in support from Arts Council Norway, far less than what we need to realise our plans. Should we have hired as many Norwegian performers and paid according to tariff, we would have had to pay at least 530 000 kroner. Now we are able to get five times as much culture for the money, media spokesman Sten Inge Jørgensen says.
The production is performed in Latvian, but is continuously translated using a text machine. Leader of The Norwegian Actors’ Equity Association/NAEA, Agnete Haaland, never has heard of anything similar in Norway. She describes the pay the Latvians get as a scandal."

Leinslie, Elisabeth (22.04.2006). Review titled Bygdespel på metaplan (literally: Peasant play on a meta-level). Dagsavisen, dagsavisen.no, 30.12.2010, http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/article278278.ece
"That a Norwegian peasant play can affect future biologic research is an original solution, and it works. The effect lights a fire underneath the fear of the future and the romancing of the past, which corresponds to the theme of the original play. This radical modernisation of Beyond the longest mile is not as far from the original as many claim. It shows if we liberate from the aesthetic of the traditional play to concentrate on the core of the theme. Still, many have objected to the Latvian performance. Despite not being great performing arts it still adds new and needed dimensions to the traditional Norwegian theatre."

Jåsund, Birger Kolsrud og Kristin Vold (06.04.2006). Article titled Avslørt som kunststunt (literally: Revealed as an art stunt). NRK, nrk.no, 30.12.2010, http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/5604546.html
"When Dagbladet wrote about the story they did not mention that the play was also part of a larger art performance. But the newspaper does not feel fooled by the company, according to culture editor Hege Duckert.
- When I first heard about the project I found it very funny. It was a fun way to lead art politics. When I saw the reaction from The Norwegian Actors’ Equity Association I thought this was taking it terribly seriously and that we should have let it shine through that we considered the project more ironic than what was expressed."

Røe, Mali Hagen (01.04.2006). Article titled Spiller olsokspel uten tillatelse (Playing St. Olab Play without a permit). Østlendingen, ostlendingen.no, 30.12.2010, http://www.ostlendingen.no/nyheter/spiller-olsokspel-uten-tillatelse-1.4520190
"This has the people behind the original production in Tylldalen to react. Such a pay per hour is feeble, writer Ola Jonsmoen says. He hopes this won’t cause negative PR for the St. Olav play Tylldalen. – I find the idea of using another language very interesting, Jonsmoen says, and he hopes the interest from the media makes people go to Tylldalen this summer to watch the St. Olav Play. After a lot of discussion Jonsmoen chose to allow the company to use parts of his text."

Strindberg, Lisa Kristin (21.04.2006). The Tynset Project. NRK Kulturnytt, nrk.no, 30.12.2010, http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/5629941.html
"My third point regards the performance of the initiative takers, The Tynset Project, led by the veteran Kjetil Skøien. It was disappointingly amateur-like, considering the high ambitions. I watched the dress rehearsal. It was the first time Skøien’s Norwegian, hiring company tested a translator solution and we were served broken simultaneous translation while the Latvian performers were still talking. For the opening this hopeless mediocrity has been replaced with the original solution: Norwegian text projected on the back wall. So, feel free to give them more money, but do demand a higher level of professionalism of the work in return."