Siste kveld med mamma* (Last Evening with Mother)

Totalteatret describes its Siste kveld med mamma* (Last Evening with Mother) as "a hybrid between anarchist cabaret, confidence talk show and surreal info theatre".

The company writes: "In addition to a naturalist flashback to a 60 year birthday in 1979, we take use of live rap and techno joik, animated video and other means of expression to say something about the search for identity in general and for a contemporary coastal Sami identity in particular. Siste kveld med mamma is a direct and personal production."

The background for the production is the Norwegianisation of areas which were, just a few decades ago, multicultural: Sami, Finnish and Norwegian. In Siste kveld med mamma Totalteatret searches for expressions for and questions a contemporary coastal Sami identity.

"So much of the culture is erased by modernisation and linguistic politics that a contemporary identity as a coastal Sami is not immediate. Norwegianisation is a historical fact, it has been very successful, and there are no coastal Samis who are not also Norwegian. The image of Sami people as victims is about to be outdated and the media aggrandisement of ethnical conflicts is tired. The optimist mobility in Sami culture must be possible to use as a measure for examination and development. Ethnicity can become a more open space, aided by new understanding ", Totalteatret writes.

The production opts for a greater perspective.

Totalteatret explains: "It is important to struggle for a greater perspective in pondering one’s own identity. Many of the changes the coastal Sami areas have been through have also taken place in other rural areas. In Siste kveld med mamma we ask whether identity is connected to preserving a language or a traditional way of living? Or is identity connected to geography, family and ethnicity? Is there a coastal Sami future?"

*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.