Rambuku

At the webpage of The Norwegian Theatre the following, among other things, is written about Rambuku:

"An elderly married couple are on the edge between life and death, about to make the journey into the unknown, the land beyond, Rambuku. The woman is filled with words, the man is filled with silence. As we stand on the threshold of the unknown we may look forwards and backwards at the same time. Do we see the same in the future as we see across our shoulders in the past? Or is there something more? Will the man and the woman make the journey together? And who or what is Rambuku?

'If we consider the development from Jon's first play up to Rambuku, I have thought that if Jon didn't write any more plays, if Rambuku became the last, there is a kind of thematic connection from his first play to his last. In Someone is Going to Come someone is on his way to a house. In Rambuku they are on their way away from the house. And what is this house? One way or the other I think it is the language - that is, the ability to phrase or to frame life in words, how language can lose its meaning in the existence. And in the theatre, where there is silence and speech, literally, that is, either you remain silent, or you speak. And what happens in between? One way or another there is a kind of journey to the intersection between the meaningless and the meaningful. And to which degree we are able to find the words, in the meeting between the meaningful and the meaningless. If this is how one thinks, it is almost natural to end in the theatre, because this is the only place where silence is tangible. In another way than when reading, silence is a presence in the theatre', instructor Kai Johnsen says in the performance program (Norwegian only).

'Yes, I live with Fosse day and night, for this play we are now about to start working with is a great text. One may see Rambuku as a tribute to storytelling, to the transformative powers of storytelling. At the same time it is a love story. She and He stand at the threshold of life and death. It is a generous story, but also means to survival. One longs for something to be beautiful', actress Ragnhild Hilt says to the magazine Det Norske (link in Norwegian only).

'There are many good writers. But one of those who pretty early stood clearly before me was, you know, Beckett. I did not read that much by him. And most of what he wrote I have still not read, and I will most likely not do so, either. Because it is sort of not necessary. I know it all, in some way. When I have been asked why I like Beckett so much, I may answer that it is because the poetry of Beckett is the victory of the loser. For as Beckett said, eventually he realised that he didn't have to be clever and succeed in what he wrote, he had to write his failures. Not until he realised this he was able to write. But this answer may not be so good, so I usually respond that I like Beckett so much because of the soul of his sentences. That is not too badly put, even though it is not that well put. But of course it is not covering it all either. .... In my own writing it may have happened that I have used Beckett as a wall, as something I could use to push myself into action from, this exists already in a title such as Someone is Going to Come. Truth to be told, I may have written more against than with Beckett', playwright Jon Fosse says in the performance program (Norwegian only).

The woman/she is interpreted by Ragnhild Hilt and the man/he by Svein Erik Brodal. The role of Rambuku belongs to Morten Espeland.

The direction is by Kai Johnsen, stage design and costumes by Kari Gravklev. The two of them collaborated most recently in the production of Lars Norén's Taus musikk* (Silent Music), and they were also behind the direction and stage design of Beautiful. The music was made by Henrik Hellstenius."

Sources:

The Norwegian Theatre, detnorsketeatret.no, 15.02.2013, http://www.detnorsketeatret.no/index.php?option=com_play&view=play&playid=218

The book Teaterstykke 2 (literally: Theatrical Plays 2), Det Norske Samlaget (2001)

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