A Wee One
A Wee One is developed by Teater NOR and Andreas Eilertsen, who is also the only actor onstage. A Wee One is inspired by Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, and is about a boy entering the world in Raftsundet, a small depopulated place in the municipality of Vågan, the Lofoten Islands. Here he grows up by the ocean, closely attached to nature. The production was made in 1996 by Teater NOR, before Teater NOR broke with Lofoten Teater. In 2006 it was taken on by Eilertsen & Granados Teaterkompani. A Wee One has been performed more than 300 times.
Information
(Objekt ID 2115)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | June 14, 1996 |
| Produced by | Eilertsen & Granados Teaterkompani, Teater NOR |
| Based on | Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen |
| Audience | Youth, Adults |
| Number of events | 300 |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Keywords | Theatre, Physical theatre, Musical theatre |
| Running period | June 14, 1996 |
| Duration | 1 hour |
| Website | Eilertsen & Granados Teaterkompani, Teater NOR |
Requirements to venue
| Minimum stage width | 6m |
| Minimum stage depth | 6m |
| Minimum stage height | 3m |
| Lights requirements | Brought with |
| Audio requirements | Brought with |
| Blackout | Yes |
| Rigging time | 120 minutes |
| Downrigging time | 60 minutes |
A Wee One has been awarded two international awards, both in 2003. The performance won the audience and jury award during International Festival of Monodrama and Pantomime in Belgrade and an award for the most unique and original performance during the Theatrical-Sky PUF festival in Croatia.
A Wee One is based on Eilertsen’s own experiences growing up, and we follow his way thought various phases of life at a high pace. He takes us on a trip into a fast changing world. He tells his story simply and directly, using clowning, juggling and music. In addition to being an actor, Eilertsen is an accomplished musician, playing instruments and integrating them in tough physical numbers.
In A Wee One we follow the wee one through life, in which he in quick leaps keeps burning for new contexts. He is a politician, he meets love, he leaves little Norway to travel the world, he becomes a philosopher, religious, alcoholic, loses his wit, before he disappears into poetry at the end. The wee one has a violent appetite for life, but none of his passions lasts. Driven by the hope there must be something more, he keeps leaving the contexts he has become part of to hunt for new challenges. At every departure he leaves behind who he has been thus far. Nothing is good enough, nothing is valuable enough or meaningful enough to last. There must be something more? He only has himself, and Solveig definitely didn’t wait, the way she waited for Peer 150 years ago. The wee one needs to learn to live in the world he is part of, to learn to see the beauty in the cycle of defeat and the poetry in eternal repetition.
To begin with, the performance was partially based on text, and Eilertsen played the accordion and mandolin. In version two most of the text was cut, and the guitar and the bass are included among the instruments, but the content is mainly the same in the second version as in the first.
A Wee One has a loose structure, so that Eilertsen can easily move it between diverse surroundings. Nor is the action all set, providing room to improvise and to use the ideas and input he gets during the performance. In a way, A Wee One has become a playpen for Eilertsen, a context in which he can allow himself more than he usually can onstage, in the term of trying out concepts and methods of communication.
A Wee One is based on Eilertsen's own experiences growing up, and we follow his way thought various phases of life at a high pace. He takes us on a trip into a fast changing world. He tells his story simply and directly, using clowning, juggling and music. Eilertsen is an accomplished musician, playing instruments and integrating them in tough physical numbers.
Sources:
E-mail from Thorbjørn Gabrielsen, November 10 2010
Eilertsen & Granados Teaterkompani, http://eilertsen-granados.com/no, 11.10.2010, http://eilertsen-granados.com/no/en-ensom-sneip-a-wee-one/
http://www.eilertsen-granados.no/Norsk/Innhold.php?Page=Sneip&Submenu=1 12.09.2010
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Thorbjørn Gabrielsen | – Script |
| Thorbjørn Gabrielsen | – Direction |
| Geir Ove Andersen | – Stage design |
| Sissel Helgesen | – Costume design |
| Andreas Eilertsen | – Sound design |
| Andreas Eilertsen | – Actor |
| May 28, 2011 – Eilertsen & Granados Teater, Eilertsen & Granados Teaterkompani (Stamsund Teaterfestival) | Show |
| June 2, 2007 – Vaglebruket, Teater NOR (Stamsund Teaterfestival) | Show |
| June 10, 2006 – Lille sal, Nordland Visual Theatre (Stamsund Teaterfestival) | Show |
| June 14, 1996 (Stamsund Teaterfestival) | Worldwide premiere |
| Stamsund Teaterfestival | June 14, 1996 |
Ola By Rise, 03.05.1997, Adresseavisa [Trondheim]:
"Check out this wee one, people! When the performance is over, we sit back breathless after watching a combination of mimicry, musicality and comedy at an extremely high level"
Skribent ukjent, 20.07.1996, Göteborgsposten [Gøteborg]:
"With complete control over his long, sinewy body, he leads the mind to John Cleese as well as the rubber man."