Skuggar

Voices from women and men calling out from some kind of a limbo, a place beyond life, a place where they can neither stay nor escape. The present merges with memories from the past. What the characters have left from life are the memories about the relations and connections they had to each other.

In the room, six large head-shaped plaster figures hung in the air. On them faces were projected – faces talking to the audience and each other. The text is Fosse’s, but it was spoken by children, while adult actors performed silently on stage.

Instructor Kari Holtan about Shadows:

"When working with Erosion in 1995 we read everything that Fosse had written until then, and became very enthusiastic about his work. Some time ago we experimented with video projected faces on enlarged heads cast in plaster. The expression the heads gave along with the absence of the body led to a reminiscence of Fosse's texts.

Shadows has a universe of its own; open, clear and at the same time disturbing and enigmatic. 'Everything is now and everything is always'. The fact that time and space are dissolved allows me as a reader to recognise my own unease. The people are in an immaterial room, in a state of zero, where memories of a life together are their only common ground. The text challenges one to ask existential questions; to wonder who we are and how we impact on each other's lives."

Shadows by De Utvalgte was supported by Arts Council Norway and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/MFA (travel grant/performing arts).

SOURCES:

BIT Teatergarasjen, bit-teatergarasjen.no, "Høst 2009", 21.08.2010, http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no/article/64

De Utvalgte, deutvalgte.no, 21.08.2010, http://www.deutvalgte.no/skuggar/skuggar.html / 27.09. 2021, https://www.deutvalgte.no/portfolio_page/skuggar/

Andreas Wiese (2009, 04.02). Døden fra barnemunn (literally: Death from the mouths of children). Dagbladet
«(...) theatrical poetry, existential wonder, and an almost meditative contemplation – mixed with a bit of enraptured amazement at how well the children’s readings can work. It becomes a thought-provoking, different theatre performance, as if from a different place, given to us here and now.»

Elin Høyland (2009, 06.02). Konkret mystikk (literally: Tangible mysticism). Morgenbladet
"Through the children’s faces and voices they touch a pure existential nerve."

Inger Margrethe Lunde (2009, 06.02). Aftenposten
"De Utvalgte connects the unexpected with the expected. We experience more and on many levels, both intellectually and emotionally."

Therese Bjørneboe (2009, 06.02). Klassekampen
"There are moments in this performance that blow a hole through the roof."

IdaLou Larsen (2009, 17.02).
"De Utvalgte’s original and conscious interpretation is strong both visually and lyrically, and not least - it expands Jon Fosse's theatrical universe"

Jan Bachmann (2009, 28.05). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"Through the use of advanced artistic means, the production gave rise to a new understanding of an old message: you can reach many key insights only when you again become like a child."

Martin Nordvik (2009, 09.10). Adresseavisen
"An original effect casts light on the shadow game, and hit a perfect tone in Jon Fosse’s drama."