Ten years later

At Jo Strømgren Kompani's website the following is written about Ten Years Later:

"Two friends are stuck in a dirty shed somewhere far away from home. They have been hiding from the police for ten long years, refusing to acknowledge the crime they once committed. Mental malfunctions and signs of fatigue are however starting to appear. Time has come for them confess, admit, and repent their actions. Overdue, yes, but also too late?

Ten Years Later was an independent continuation of the previous Masculine Mysteries. Both productions studied the different aspects of the classic triangle of male friendship with a woman involved. Whereas the first production was rather light at heart, the corners of Ten Years Later were much darker.

Ten Years Later is representative for the early years of JSK where the extensive use of creative collaborators was both ambitious and complex. Dance, theatre, live music, puppet theatre, image projections, and film was carefully melted into the most complicated set and lighting design so far in the company history.

There are plans to restage Ten Years Later at a convenient time and occasion."

In the Oktoberdans program for 1999 the following is written about Ten years later by Jo Strømgren Kompani:

"The special collaboration between choreographer Jo Strømgren and the viola player Bergmund Waal Skaslien first brought forth Masculine Mysteries, which, to the great surprise of the creators captivated the audience and the critics. Later they claimed that '...the production was a hysterical stunt from merry amateurs eager to perform'.

The genre hybrid (dance, acts of film and puppetry, accompanied live by the compositions by Bergmund) and the informal treatment of the subject (the gentlemen's relationship to women, and the labyrinthine ways of love and lust) apparently hit a nerve with the audience. They then got the idea for a sequel, now with the wish to attack it in a more thorough and more sombre way.

Masculine Mysteries – Ten years later was the result: The action is located to Eastern Europe in 2008, and the main characters are suspected of murdering a woman. They have to stand up, accused by an imaginary judge. This partly happens through monologues, based on texts the performers have written.

Now, too, Strømgren and Skaslien use live music, dance, film sequences and two horror puppets representing a not very flattering version of how the two gentlemen would look as oldsters. In addition there is an ingeniously constructed stage plan, in itself a central part of the production."

Supported by: Arts Council Norway.

Jo Strømgren won The Hedda Award 1999 in the open category for the choreographies for Bindingsverk for Carte Blanche and Ten Years Later for Jo Strømgren Kompani.

Sources:

Jo Strømgren Kompani, jskompani.no, 08.08.2010, http://jskompani.no/productions/3

The Oktoberdans program 1999, page 27, BIT Teatergarasjen

Sceneweb on The Hedda Award 1999, www.sceneweb.no, 14.11.2012, http://www.sceneweb.no/en/awarding/11521/The_Hedda_Award_1999-1999

Writer and date unknown, Bergens Tidende [Norway]:
"Frightening and exceptional."