| Title | File type | Publiseringsdato | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sesongprogram for Nationaltheatret vår 2015. | January 2015 | Download |
We chew on the bones of time
We chew on the bones of time (2015) is a theatre production by The National Theatre.
Jonas Corell Petersen directed it, and also devised the text in collaboratio with the ensemble: Ole Johan Skjelbred, Olav Waastad, Espen Alknes and Sigurd Myhre.
We chew on the bones of time is The National Theatre's contribution to The Union of Theatres of Europe's international collaboration project Terrorisms. The project is supported by the culture program of The European Union.
Information
(Objekt ID 44415)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | January 15, 2015 |
| Produced by | The National Theatre |
| Based on | Vi forlot den stille skogen by Janne-Camilla Lyster |
| Audience | Adults |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Keywords | Theatre |
| Running period | January 15, 2015 |
"Four young persons meet at a seminar lasting for 40 days and 40 nights. They bathe in mud, play the guitar, dance salsa and talk about everything from gardening to loneliness and human development throughout some thousand years. They reflect upon whether the human has a core and, if so, how this core develops with world history. Perhaps we were better off when we lived a hundred, thousand and maybe one hundred thousand years ago?"
The Terrorisms project lasts from 2013 to 2015, including the theatres Staatsschauspiel Stuttgart from Stuttgart in Germany, The National Theatre of Norway, Jugoslovensko Dramsko Pozoriste, Belgrade, Serbia, the Israeli national theatre Habima in Tel Aviv, Young Vic Theatre in London, England and Comédie de Reims, France. Originally, the Palestinian theatre Shiber Hur was also meant to take part, but withdrew.
The summer of 2015 all productions produced as part of the Terrorisms project will be performed at a festival in Stuttgart, Germany.
SOURCES:
Import from the Scenekunst.no list of openings 26.11.2014
The National Theatre on We chew on the bones of time, www.nationaltheatret.no, 16.02.2015, http://www.nationaltheatret.no/Vi+tygger+p%C3%A5+tidens+knokler.b7C_wRrUXj.ips
The Union of Theatres of Europe, www.union-theatres-europe.eu, 16.02.2015, http://www.union-theatres-europe.eu/UNIQ142408399622240/en/terrorisms
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Jonas Corell Petersen | – Script |
| Jonas Corell Petersen | – Direction |
| Gaute Tønder | – Music |
| Olav Torbjørn Skare | – Dramaturge |
| Nia Damerell | – Stage design |
| Nia Damerell | – Costume design |
| Håvard Morsund | – Sound |
| Øyvind Wangensteen | – Lighting design |
| Espen Alknes | – Co-creator |
| Sigurd Myhre | – Co-creator |
| Ole Johan Skjelbred | – Co-creator |
| Olav Waastad | – Co-creator |
| Espen Alknes | – Actor |
| Sigurd Myhre | – Actor |
| Ole Johan Skjelbred | – Actor |
| Olav Waastad | – Actor |
| Wibke Schuler | – Mask design |
| Ada Behn | – Props |
| Hans Voigt | – Stage manager |
| Njål Øwre | – Stage Manager |
| Ida Klevstul Burdal | – Lighting supervisor |
| Thale Kvam Olsen | – Assistant Stage Designer |
| Thale Kvam Olsen | – Costume assistant |
| Ingvil E. Toft | – Costume production supervisor |
| Magne Tobias Ausland | – Prompter |
| Runi Sveen | – Producer |
| Monica Lindanger | – Administration (Informasjonsansvarlig) |
| Jannicke Spillmer Klohs | – Dresser |
| Trine Sandrine Syrrist | – Administration (Markedsansvarlig) |
| January 15, 2015 19:30 – Amfiscenen, Nationaltheatret, The National Theatre | Worldwide premiere |
"We chew on the bones of time uses the superficially philosophical to make fun of the superficially philosophical. (...) We chew... describes a societal tendency in which self-obsession and approximate knowledge lead to lack of perspective and empathy. It is entertaining - I don't know if I have ever laughed as much, as intensely or as astonished - but one has to be very generously inclined to call it important. If one is, one may say that the performance is about the human as nature versus the human as culture, and that its basic motifs - understanding and alienation - are conditions for community, in security and in terror. But in that case, one is getting close to the abstracting meta-level the performance finds its humour in. Banalities disguised as profundities make up the very foundation for its quirkiness."
"The actors' relaxed, seemingly nonchalant acting style creates a cosy atmosphere, a condition for the slightly dizzying and uncomfortable sensation of seeing the backs of our own heads in a mirror. Each actor has at least one virtuoso act, such as Ole Skjelbred's song Como el viento, Just like the wind. But it is Olav Waastad, who looks like a pedantic, precocious 12-year old, who is the one who most gives face to the bizarre feeling of unreality in this performance. (...) At The Amphi Stage the development goes toward a hunt for the natural human being. In the second part the actors are nude, but covered in mud. The play alpha males, but in a mindfulness-way revealing a screaming need to belong, one that also includes the body."
"The four men, who are presented with the given names of the actors, have been on a seminar in the Biblical period of 40 days and 40 nights. This they narrate on a more or less chronologic day-to-day basis. The whole thing is presented as a class in how to handle everyday life, roughly as in The Old Testament. And here is a lot of Biblical absurdity. Detailed descriptions of trivialities and long inventories abound, as in The Bible. (...) It is up to the spectator to find the link to terrorism and whatever else - or not. But it would be plausible to look for it in the production's attention towards the combination of emptiness and self-cultivation- meaninglessness put in system."