Let You Be

At the website of The National Theatre, the following, among other things, is written about Let You Be:

"Summer night, and a group of boys drinks beer and swim in the sound. Two persons walk past. Everything goes wrong. Those involved need someone to share it with. Someone to blame. They search for security while life goes to pieces. Who has one been, and who will one be, when everything is turned upside-down?

In the production Let You Be this and several other stories are told through different characters named Human, Friend, Acquaintance, Stranger and Enemy. Every story and every meeting is connected and in sum becomes a narrative about loneliness, break-ups, belonging and who we are to one another. But this is also a story about hope, mercy and love - and who stand with us when the ground shifts beneath us.

Let You Be is a newly written work by Arne Lygre, one of the most ground-breaking, important playwrights. Since his debut in 1998 he has been the recipient of The Brage Award as well as The National Ibsen Award, gained significant international attention and become translated into 15 languages. Lygre is resident playwright at The National Theatre."

The Hedda Jury gave the following reason for the stage text award to Arne Lygre:

"In the criteria for The Hedda Award for best stage text, it is stated that the stage text is to distinguish itself from other good candidates through promoting and/or challenge the character of stage texts, and/or through being original in its choice of material, and/or through being innovative in its development, treatment or interpretation of the material, and/or through being particularly adaptable for acting, challenging and inspiring for actors. This year's winning text fulfils all these demands. Through an intelligently formed dramaturgical structure in which the perspective changes more than once, a nuanced sensibility in shifts between storytelling and analysis, interpretation and reinterpretation. Characters as well as audience members gradually gain new insights. The language is pure and poetic, while sounding everyday familiar, verbally natural and near."

SOURCES:

The National Theatre, 26.04.16, www.nationaltheatret.no, http://www.nationaltheatret.no/?module=Articles&action=Article.publicOpen&id=5937

The Hedda Award, www.heddaprisen.no, https://www.heddaprisen.no/nominerte/2017

The Hedda Award, heddaprisen.no, 19.06.2017, https://www.heddaprisen.no/vinnere/2017

Lillian Bikset, Arne Lygre går nok en gang dypt inn i menneskelige kjerner (literally: Yet again, Arne Lygre goes deep into human cores), Dagbladet September 9 2016:

"The scenes are concentrates of humanity, and the actors perform them with nuance and nerve. One and the same statement can have many different meanings, dependant on the context in which it is said, and the way it is said. What a facial expression means goes to gradually changing interpretations and reinterpretations. Subtext is included in the body language and in the actors' placement in relation to one another. It is finely tuned, and it causes subtle (and some not so subtle, humorous) adjustments between the words that are said and the meanings that lie between them, between what is done and what could have been done. Each of the five - Tone Mostraum, Andrine Sæther, Glenn André Kaada, Hanne Skille Reitan and Olav Waastad - are only alloted one character name each, but underway, they all act as different persons within different relationships to one another. The action is split in sequences, with turning points when the person who last spoke enters the role of another, and this other person always has some connection to the last to happen or the last to be said. This way, the different role identities are dissolved, across gender and age, and it is made clear how mutually human the experiences are, while everything turns out to be related to everything else. There are always points of convergence, one person's actions and choices always also affect at least one other's. Sometimes, two persons' perceptions of one and the same situation conflict, other times they complement each other to a harmonious shared truth."

Therese Bjørneboe, Hold rundt meg! (literally: Hold me!), Klassekampen September 12 2016:

"Arne Lygre has long been regarded as one of our foremost playwrights. Yet, the world premiere of Let You Be feels like a break-through, at least onstage. It is without doubt the best production I have seen of Lygre in Norway. Johannes Holmen Dahl lets nothing get between the text and us. Where many tend to over-direct the plays of Arne Lygre, this production is characterised by attentive listening and precision. But Let You Be may be Lygre's best play."