Beyond Human Power III

Otherwise Beyond Human Power III is presented as some kind of involved, staged discussion theatre, in which the performing artist Pia Maria Roll eagerly, passionately, despairingly, angrily and sincerely discusses with Bjørnson and her fellow performers, including the professor in literature Drude von der Fehr and her son, the artist Marius von der Fehr, the whistle blower Kari Breirem and the corruption hunter Nigel Krishna Iyer.

About Bjørnson’s original text, the company writes:

"In 1895 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote Norway’s first suicide bomber drama as the opening performance in The National Theatre. The play describes a strike during a work conflict in a small Norwegian industry town. The starved workers are led by the intellectual son of a priest, Elias Sang. The factory owner Holger invites the 100 most powerful factory owners in the country to a meeting in his private middle age castle. The CEOs shall, behind closed doors, establish an organisation opposing the striking workers, crushing their rebellion and demands for all future. This is when it all blows up."

This is how the performance is described in the program from Black Box Teater:

"The members of the power elite lock themselves in within a castle to make the most important decisions in the nation exempt of any kind of democratic process: Bjørnson’s image is just as relevant today as it was 115 years ago. Growth and wealth do not invite opposing opinions. How many cases of power performance within closed rooms really happen around us? Is the parliamentary democracy just a curtain of fog, whose mission is to make the electors believe they have power over their own lives?

Or – to put it differently: Is the power structured in such a way Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s conflict in Beyond Human Power II will be as up-to-date in every generation to come?

Rather than re-producing Bjørnson’s text, Roll/Kolbenstvedt have found documentary parallels to Bjørnson’s characters in our contemporary times. How does one meet the hidden, concentrated power? By rage and action? By reform and compromise? By dialogue and forgiveness? We meet a wide range of people with different experiences with power and lack of power: the radical priest, the corruption hunter, the Polish construction workers, the whistle blower, the CEO, the revolutionary art activist, the metaphysician. Except for Roll none of the performers in the performance is an actor, they are all invited into the theatre due to their knowledge, experience and involvement."

The performance was made in the so-called Year of Bjørnson 2010, marking the hundred anniversary for the death of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Pia Maria Roll and Marius Kolbenstvedt formerly had collaborated in the performance The Street Scene (2009).

Beyond Human Power III was supported by Arts Council Norway and The Audio Visual Fund.

Finn Iunker’s article about Cirka pari* (Circa Par) can be read (in Norwegian) here.

The seminar arranged by Septia Group in correlation with the production can be read about here.

The manifest of Marius von der Fehr can be read here.

Sources: Beyond Human Power III/OVER EVNE III, http://www.overevne.no, 08.10.2010, http://www.overevne.no/front/

Black Box Teater Oslo, http://www.blackbox.no/, 08.10.2010, http://www.blackbox.no/content/titlePresentation.php?tid=2029&displayNav=false

All the text quotes above are translated into English by Sceneweb's Lillian Bikset.

"Ticking theatre bomb" – With Beyond Human Power III Black Box Teater gives the Year of Bjørnson a booming start."

Høyland,Elin (29.11.2010). Review titled Tikkande teaterbombe (literally: Ticking theatre bomb. Morgenbladet, morgenbladet.no, 26.10.2010, http://morgenbladet.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100129/OKULTUR/701299853

"The love of performing arts, also strongly present in Roll’s last production, shines strongly. Even though Roll withdraws from the theatre revolution Marius von der Fehr challenges to, they throw a tiny little Molotov cocktail in this. Where there is will, there is a way."

Pettersen, Anette Therese ( 22.01.2010). Review titled Vekkelsesmøte* (literally: A call for salvation). Dagsavisen, dagsavisen.no, 26.10.2010, http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/article464845.ece

"Beyond Human Power III is pretty loosely structured. But perhaps it could not have been done in another way, when the performers onstage are not actors. They are real people with a sincere message. They ask us to help them, for alone they will be beheaded, if they stick it forth. The hyper-realist form of Beyond Human Power III functions very well. This is brilliant and real theatre, not least because each and every one of the people in front of us really wants something with what they say. Roll’s production gapes over a large material, but it also has a large message about daring to promote change, development and justice. Beyond Human Power III is brave, honest, fun, captivating and inspiring. We exit with a revolutionary idea in our heads: Un otro mundo es posibile – another world is possible."

Valberg, Anne Helene (21.01.2010), Review titled Inderlig budskap i ei kritisk tid (literally: Sincere message in a critical age). Scenekunst, scenekunst.no, 26.10.2010, http://www2.scenekunst.no/artikkel_6731.nml