Stengt p.g.a. sykdom* (Closed due to illness)

Stengt p.g.a. sykdom* (Closed due to illness) (1988) was a production by Boreas Bulreador

Boreas Bulreador was at the time about to dissolve, and the members of the company felt the need to delve into each their solo. Anne Mali Sæther developed Stengt p.g.a. sykdom with Fred Apke.

Information

(Objekt ID 31784)
Object type Production
Premiere Navember 23, 1988
Produced by
Audience Adults
Number of events 5
Language Norwegian
Keywords Theatre, Solo, Tragicomedy/Seriocomedy
Running period Navember 23, 1988  —  Navember 27, 1988
Duration 1 hour, 45 minutes
More

Boreas Bulreador wrote the following, among other things, about Stengt p.g.a. sykdom:

"An early morning a small woman shuffles on fragile and excited toes through her small living room to her even smaller kiosk with the note: 'Closed due to illness'. In a cautious soul a tiny little longing for freedom is awake; one day for her and her desires only. But the expectations twist to...

Shadows creeping across the floor,

She breaks way,

Breaks up,

Breaks down.

Then silence,

She listens.

A start?

A performance in which thin ice covers the living room floor and a woman slides..."

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

Anne Mali Sæther writes the following, among other things, about Stengt p.g.a. sykdom* (Closed due to illness):

"The production was about a kiosk owner who closed her shop one day after 13 years of duty just to enjoy freedom.

The production was about the little woman who, with help from her favourite opera Aida, becomes queen for a day. Free of all expectations she can be 'who she is' and live out her dreams and fantasies. But she is also confronted with her existence in ways breaking her down; her loneliness and anxiety to be confronted with challenges.

Like Aida herself she has created her own prison, where only she knows she is a queen.

[...]

The painter Morten Hansen came in as a stage designer, creating an absurd landscape; a meeting between Aida's pyramid and a small living room. In the kiosk owner's living room nothing stood steadily at the pyramid-like uneven floor.

The stage design was central in our development of scenes: A crack in the floor became a grave, uneven floors became hills and Eva slides down walls as if they were playground slides.

The sound of the floor was also actively used.

In the time of Boreas Bulreador this production was probably the one most actively using the possibilities of the stage design.

[...]

The music of Aida also became an important element in the performance, as it gave Eva the grandeur she wanted to be part of.

In addition to Aida we also used a minimalist repetitive and rhythmic sound image."

SOURCES:

Buresund, Inger og Anne-Britt Gran (1996): Frie grupper og Black Box Teater. 1970-1995, adNotam Gyldendal, Oslo

E-mail from Anne Mali Sæther, 06.03.2012

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

Contributors (6)
Name Role
Fred Apke – Script
Anne Mali Sæther – Script
Anne Mali Sæther – Concept/Idea
Fred Apke – Direction
Morten Hansen – Stage design
Anne Mali Sæther – Actor
Performance dates
Navember 27, 1988Lille scene (Vika), Black Box teater Show
Navember 26, 1988Lille scene (Vika), Black Box teater Show
Navember 25, 1988Lille scene (Vika), Black Box teater Show
Navember 24, 1988Lille scene (Vika), Black Box teater Show
Navember 23, 1988Lille scene (Vika), Black Box teater Worldwide premiere
Press coverage

Writer and date unknown, Dagbladet [Oslo]:
"Anne Mali Sæther has the clown's ability to nuance using small effects. Eva lives in a face, in gestures and movements created by the stories she spins to herself. Eva exists in the range between candid comedy and tragedy, in a dark humour giving perspectives to anxiety-filled loneliness."

Writer and date unknown, Klassekampen [Oslo]:
"Anne Mali Sæther has with director Fred Apke made a naivist, beautiful little performance. Anne Mali Sæther has found a character making one go to Tove Jansson's lonely. Here lives the human dreams enclosed in tiny little houses with a threatening, confronting world outside. [...] shows artistic diversity and a quality strengthening the impression of Boreas Burleador as one of the most exciting Norwegian independent performing arts companies."