Vendt the Monk

Vendt the Monk (1998) was a theatre production by Totalteatret, The Arctic Theatre and The National Sami Theatre Beaivváš, based on the play by Knut Hamsun.

Mette Brantzeg directed it.

Stig Henrik Hoff played the role of Vendt.

Information

(Objekt ID 34000)
Object type Production
Premiere May 2, 1998
Produced by Totalteatret, The Arctic Theatre, The National Sami Theatre
Based on Vendt the Monk by Knut Hamsun
Audience Adults
Language Norwegian
Keywords Theatre
Running period May 2, 1998  —  June 1998
Website FERSKE SCENER
More

At the webpage of Ferske Scener the following, among other things, is written about Vendt the Monk:

"For its 15th anniversary in 1998 Totalteatret chose to stage Knut Hamsun's Vendt the Monk from 1902. In Norwegian theatre circles, the play had always been considered as an unactable verse drama. Now it was to be processed and adapted anew. The work started in 1997, with an adaption and dramaturgic treatment by Kristin Eriksen and director Mette Brantzeg.

(...)

The stage design was made by Hilde Hauan Johnsen, whereas Roger Ludvigsen composed the music. Onstage were eight actors: Stig Henrik Hoff (Vendt the Monk), Bernt Bjørn, Mia Kaarinadotter, Stein Bjørn, Inger Kathrine Hansen, Benjamin Laustiola, Gudmund Gulljord and Sibeth Hoff. The opening took place May 2.

(...)
The audience of Tromsø supported the performance to an acceptable degree. It was one of the major events during Stamsund International Theatre Festival in the beginning of June 1998. That was where the production ended its days. The decoration was stored at a fish plant and never brought further into the world."

SOURCES:

Ferske Scener, ferskescener.no, 14.07.2014, http://www.ferskescener.no/om-ferske-scener/totalteatret/totalteatret-1990-2000/

Mette Brantzeg's private archive, donated by Mette Brantzeg, 15.01.2009

Contributors (14)
Name Role
Knut Hamsun – Playwright
Mette Brantzeg – Adapted by
Kristin Eriksen Bjørn – Adapted by
Mette Brantzeg – Direction
Roger Ludvigsen – Music
Hilde Hauan Johnsen – Stage design
Bernt Bjørn – Actor
Stein Bjørn – Actor
Gudmund Gulljord – Actor
Inger Kathrine Hansen – Actor (Iselin)
Stig Henrik Hoff – Actor (Vendt)
Sibeth Hoff – Actor
Mia Karinadotter – Actor (Blis)
Benjamin Laustiola – Actor
Performance dates
June 1998 Show
May 2, 1998 Opening night
Festivals (1)
Press coverage

Hans Rossiné, Hamsun-mirakel i Tromsø (literally: Hamsun Miracle in Tromsø), May 3 1998, Dagbladet [Oslo]:
"The drama of Vendt the Monk has become a sort of compact arena concept in which Hamsun's eight acts and tens and tens of scenes find their expression through a number of precise tableaus. But Totalteatret has not just found a successful expression for the play. The production is soaked through with broad popular comedy and a salty, burlesque Northern Norwegian temperament. (...) Vendt the Monk is a Hamsun character in every way. He is drawn between two women, the calculating daughter of the to-be-inherited farm Os, Iselin (Inger Kathrine Hansen), and the innocent farmer's daughter Blis (Mia Kaarinadotter). He is Nietzsche's Zarathustra and the outsider drawn to society, to women and money, but judged and expelled. He becomes a ringer in Hedmark, a mysterious salesman in Bergen - before he again sets sail, going north, and experiences that nothing ends how it is supposed to."