The Interrupted Honeymoon AKA The Postponed Wedding Night

After the performance May 21, the theatre closed due to the World War II actor strike:

Actors made up the first professional group to get info conflict with Germans in Norway. This happened due to the strict restrictions the first year of occupation. The conflict was primarily about actors at The National Theatre, who refused to accept broadcasting assignments. Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation was under NS control, and actors were required to accept broadcasting assignments during their spare time, to read Nazi propaganda. A resistance group at The National Theatre fronted the opposition. Actors who refused were denied work permits. This situation led to an actor strike, starting May 21, 1941, in Oslo, and the next day in Bergen and Trondheim. 15 actors and elected spokesmen for them were arrested, including Harald Schwenzen, Georg Løkkeberg, Sverre Næss, Hans Stormoen, Ole Grepp, Henki Kolstad, Erik Melbye Brekke and Leif Juster. Three of these were employed by The National Stage: Grepp, Næss and Stormoen.

Terboven personally fronted this work. He wanted to break down all resistance with power, and he threatened with strict punishments, including death penalties. The actors entered negotiations with Germans, accepting to return to work on the condition that the arrested were released. The Germans refused to negotiate and demanded unconditional capitulation. This, they got. The arrested were eventually released, the last of them in July 1942.

The actor strike in May 1941 also started a conflict between the theatre institutions and the occupants, as the theatre managers supported the actors. Theatres closed May 22 and refused to apply for a permit to run, as NS demanded. The conflict ended when the board and management of The National Theatre were arrested and the NS member Gustav Berg-Jæger was instated as head of the theatre. The decision led to an audience boycott of the theatre. Only Germans came to see the performances.

SOURCES:

Birkelund, Sigurd: NS og teaterlivet under okkupasjonen (literally: NS and theatre life during the occupation). Master's thesis, University of Oslo, 2014

The National Stage's repertoire database, donated by The National Stage/The Theatre Archive at the University of Bergen. Imported to the Sceneweb database 24.06.2016

Knut Nygaard and Eiliv Eide, Den Nationale Scene 1931-1976 (literally: The National Stage 1931-1976), Gyldendal Norsk Forlag 1977