The Tin Drum

The Hedda Jury gave the following reason for the award to Lawrence Malstaf:

"Onstage is an exciting installation radiating calm and order, while being open to interpretation. The stage design changes in beat with the rhythm of the production. Calm becomes disturbance, order becomes chaos. Nothing is purely decorative; all the elements have dramatic functions. Not least the stage design invites an unusual subtle interaction between actors and stage design, providing the performance with energy. The stage design also has challenged the traditional relationship between stage and auditorium, and has created a surprising, well-functioning new theatre venue. The award winner has, with artistic imagination, architectonic confidence and deep understanding for the particular character of theatre created an innovative, modern stage design. This year's best stage design/best costume design award goes to Lawrence Malstaf."

At the webpage of The Arctic Theatre the following, among other things, is written about The Tin Drum:

"The Tin Drum is about Oskar, the boy who refuses to grow. It is about Germany defeated, about Oskar's mother, Agnes, with the warm hands. It is about the growth of Nazism, about the destruction of a city, about the love for fizzy powder, and about eating so much eel one dies from it, and about a dead toy merchant.

In a magical, realistic language Günter Grass provides a unique perspective on human bravura and lack of power. He asks whether one can trust what one thinks one knows and what one thinks one remembers. Not least The Tin Drum is a striking, sensuous story in direct dialogue with the political situation of Europe today. It makes us think about the undercurrents and attitudes which may be whirled to the surface when the well-fare state is strangled and the debt crisis threatens.

Director Jon Tombre, known for strong visual and musical productions at HT, such as Hamsuns feber* (The Fever of Hamsun) and Alexander den store* (Alexander the Great), transforms Scene Øst into a farcical 1940es fantasy in which the audience is yet again challenged to see the theatrical space from a new perspective.

The young, talented Tromsø man Sondre Pettersen plays Oskar, a devilishly musical creature. Anneli Drecker interprets the role of his mother, and is united with her Bel Canto partner Nils Johansen in the performance, where music and text merges in a thoroughly composed whole."

SOURCES:

The Arctic Theatre, ht.tr.no, 21.05.2013, http://www.ht.tr.no/index.php/theatre/showview?iShowID=343

The Hedda Award, heddaprisen.no, 10.06.2013, http://www.heddaprisen.no/pub/heddaprisen/main/?aid=1176

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