Julie - en forkledd ung mann* (Juliet - a young man in disguise)
Julie - en forkledd ung mann* (Juliet - a young man in disguise)(1996) was a theatre production by Det Motsatte Prosjekt.
In Julie - en forkledd ung mann Det Motsatte Prosjekt based its work on Frederico García Lorca's play The Public AKA The Audience (El Publico), in which gay love is a central subject. The costumes were sculptural and inspired by Bauhaus.
Jon Tombre directed it.
*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.
Information
(Objekt ID 17530)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | April 17, 1996 |
| Produced by | Det Motsatte Prosjekt |
| Based on | The Public AKA The Audience by Federico García Lorca |
| Audience | Adults |
| Number of events | 26 |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Keywords | Theatre, Physical theatre |
| Running period | April 17, 1996 — June 9, 1996 |
Requirements to venue
| Blackout | Yes |
In the performance program of Julie - en forkledd ung mann* (Juliet - a young man in disguise) by Det Motsatte Prosjekt the following was written:
"El Publico (English title The Public AKA The Audience) was written by Federico García Lorca in 1931. The world famous Spanish playwright was killed by the Fascists during the Spanish civil war in 1936. Not until fifty years after his death the play The Public was produced for the first time. Until then the play had been hidden for the public. The Public is a surreal experiment come to form, and a tribute to the love between men. This piece of theatrical history has never before been staged in Norway.
[...]
A PLACELESS AND TIMELESS STORY. A CACOPHONIAN PULSE. EROTIC IN STRONG WAVES BETWEEN LUST AND SHAME.
A director is to stage Romeo and Juliet. His production is felt to be fake and unreal. Who is Juliet? Is she his woman, the young man or himself? For open stage he is forced to live through the story, as it really is. In a chaos of reality and dream, performance and facts, his mask falls.
He experiences love, in the forest, between the trees, among the young men. His own silent regret and reticence after. While his women rage, he shuts himself into the bathroom in her clothes. In the bathroom a little girl becomes visible, innocently she looks into the mirror. Who is she, is she Juliet?"
Supported by: Arts Council Norway, The Audio Visual Fund, The Open Theatre (Det Åpne Teater), the municipality of Oslo, the municipality of Bergen, the private fund Per Gjersøes Fond.
Source:
Jon Tombre's private archive, donated by Jon Tombre. 03.03.2009
*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Federico García Lorca | – Playwright |
| Jon Tombre | – Direction |
| Anne Grete Lunner | – Music |
| Yngvar Julin | – Stage design |
| Hege Maria Eriksson | – Room |
| Camilla Martens | – Room |
| Hege Maria Eriksson | – Costume |
| Yngvar Julin | – Costume |
| Camilla Martens | – Costume |
| Hege Maria Eriksson | – Light |
| Yngvar Julin | – Light |
| Camilla Martens | – Light |
| Marika Enstad | – Actor |
| Martin Lundberg | – Actor |
| Ulf Nilseng | – Actor |
| Lars Øyno | – Actor (Regissøren) |
| Ulf Nilseng | – Dancer |
| Shaun Henrik Mathesson | – Performer |
| Ellen Røed | – Producer |
Kjell Kjær, Avant-garde på avveie (literally: Avant-garde losing its way), 22.04.1996, Klassekampen [Oslo]:
"The border between the genial and the banal is, as one knows, very narrow. Many may see this as relevant impulses about the impossibility of love. About the shut-in person, about the individual as an isolated phenomenon, about anxiety, lust and shame, pain and so on, but I sensed it mostly as artificial nonsense. A confusing vision about and by confused people."
Elin Judit Straumsvåg, Kjærleik i sentrum (literally. Love in the centre) ,2/96, Ikkevold [Oslo]:
"It is delightfully refreshing with all the running, throwing; repetitive in its textual and physical expression. Minimalist. Provocatively daring and merry in its interaction with sexual taboos, for love between men is, as it is, taboo – onstage or not. That is also why so much of the play revolves around "shame". [...] Nobody in this country has such as clear and independent attitude to its stage work as Det Motsatte Prosjekt."
Sveinung Ones, Tom homo-kjærlighet (literally: Empty gay love), 05.05.1996, Bergens Arbeiderblad [Bergen]:
"It is possible there were some humour in parts, but I don't see the great performing arts in giving oneself a handjob or to fumble along other waistbands. At least not when it is served in such massive helpings as in this performance."
Jo Bech-Karlsen, Lorca i urinalet (literally: Lorca in the urinal), 06.05.1996, Bergens Tidende [Bergen]:
"To put it delicately: I am not delighted by this post-modern interpretation of Frederico García Lorca's unknown play The Audience. Here is perpetual stomping on a ramp of steel, and an unnuanced, strained use of voice bordering yelling. Here is the f*cking of rabbits and urinal masturbation between men, but I don't understand the strong and partly ironic effects. It may be due to the brutal deconstruction of Lorca's text; there are only traces and loose fragments left of this rich drama, all completion and all lines are massacred with a motorsaw."
John Christiansen, Var Julie en forklædt mand? (literally: Was Juliet a man in disguise?), 12.05.1996, Jyllands-Posten:
"It takes place on a bare metal stage and with steep changes between scenes. The scenes stand each of their own, almost like opera arias, because they penetrate deeper and process an emotion or a condition, while time stands still. [...] Absurd, poetic images, making an expression, even though one doesn't understand all the Norwegian, and far from always manages to make a connection. But the play with the soft, impressive physical theatre expression creates many associations to life outside of the bare stage."
Anna Lundberg, Könsrollerna ifrågasätts med kroppen (literally: Gender roles questioned by the body), 18.05.1996, Göteborgs-posten [Gøteborg]:
"Julie - en forkledd ung mann?* (Juliet – a young man in disguise) discusses the importance of recognising one's lust in a tribute to love between man and man. Central is also the image given of woman; shut in her taken-advantage-of gender role she has troubles finding a new identity. What do you do, as a woman, when the man takes the singularity of painting your lips from you? What do you do when Juliet, the image of sheer femininity, is said to be a young man in disguise? Is that when the flat-footed sandals are fetched? The question is posed: What is left of the man, and the woman, when their traditional attributes are taken away from them? [...] The stage floor is illuminated from underneath in a way almost lifting the performer from the ground, found in the idea rich workshop of Piscator. [...] The free association and the generous ambiguity are what provides the art work with its value."
Ole Jacob Hoel, Mas, mas, mas (literally: Nag, nag, nag), 07.06.1996, Adresseavisen [Trondheim]:
"On a large angled metal lattice the five actors/dancers perform their acts. There is a lot of gay aesthetic going on. And when they do not feel each other up in precisely choreographed sequences, the performers pass time spitting loudly, jumping even more noisy at the metal grate or slapping themselves across the cheeks, first one, then the other - then both at the same time. [...] the five performers do what they do in a convincingly intense manner, there is not much to attack technically - and at times we let ourselves be seduced by some fascinating directorial means. And one should well, in general, applaud the will to experiment?"
*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.