RADIO PROPAGANDHI!

The first three parts of RADIO PROPAGANDHI! by Tynset FM, called Nordkoreamannen* (The North Korea Man), Reinkarnasjonsmannen* (The Reincarnation Man) and Intelligent-design-mannen* (The Intelligent Design Man), had as its purpose to interview people burning for issues not many others believe in. The fourth broadcast Total Propagandhi! was a summary of the three past broadcasts.

In the Black Box Teater program the spring of 2010, the company and the production were presented like this:

"Too complex for Skavlan**, too serious for Norges herligste**, too soulful for the tabloid newspapers and too unknown for most people. In RADIO PROPAGANDHI! we provide a voice and a focus for a dying race: The idealists – Norwegians who have in different ways chosen to stand up for their convictions no matter the cost. Every broadcast and evening is dedicated to a special guest and main character who will introduce himself and his message, adjusted and produced by Tynset FM. They all stand in front of a larger audience for the first time."

The content of the episodes were described like this:

"Episode 1, Thursday February 11: NORDKOREAMANNEN* (The North Korea Man)

Guest: BJØRNAR SIMONSEN, international secretary in Korean Friendship Association (KFA).

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, for the surrounding world better known as North Korea, is the most closed country in the world with the poorest reputation: Concentration camps, torture, illegal atom weapons, secret hunger disasters, total surveillance and media censorship, adoration of crazy dictators, the axis of evil – few, if any nations have been and are subject to as massive and one-sided negative attention in Western media as North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-Il. Norwegian Bjørnar Simonsen is the international secretary of Korean Friendship Association (KFA), working for increased understanding and collaboration between Northern Korea and the international society, with the North Korean authorities’ full blessing.

Episode 2, Friday February 12: REINKARNASJONSMANNEN * (The Reincarnation Man)

Guest: WINFRIED WALTHER, reincarnation expert:

German Winfried Walther came to Norway more than 30 years ago, but experienced that he had lived her before and learned Norwegian fast. Today he receives clients to enter hypnosis with them, during which former lives on earth are remembered. If you believe in reincarnation, you avoid the punishment of God, hell or heaven after death, you have got the responsibility for your own life and what will happen to you in your next life, in other words, a modern attitude to life. Reincarnation is rarely taken seriously in the Norwegian public sphere, and there is practically no debate what will happen after death. Is there a key to former lives in our dreams, during which we experience being places we have never visited or together with people we have never met? Musician: UNO ALEXANDER VESJE

Episode 3, Saturday February 13: INTELLIGENT DESIGN-MANNEN* (The Intelligent Design Man)

Guest: PEDER A. TYVAND, professor in physics at Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Almost exactly a year prior to the production the 200 anniversary of Charles Darwin was celebrated all over the world. The same year 150 years had gone by since the book that made him one of the most central thinkers of our time, On the Origin of Species, was published. Now we live in a time when the evolutionary teaching of Darwin’s is as taken for granted as the existence of God was in the middle ages, and regularly it is confirmed in the public room through publicised findings within DNA research and palaeontology (the teaching about fossils). Peder A. Tyvand is one of the sharpest critics of Darwinism in Norway. He tells about Intelligent Design and wants to prove, through scientific methods, that the evolution theory of Darwin’s is wrong and that there has to be a creator behind all we are surrounded by.

Episode 4, Sunday February 14: TOTAL PROPAGANDHI!

"We summarise the Radio Propagandhi program series with NORDKOREAMANNEN, REINKARNASJONSMANNEN, INTELLIGENT DESIGN-MANNEN and the audience, going through the highlights of the past week", Tynset FM declared.

During the productions the audience was encouraged to ask their own questions to the guests. The hosts communicated with their guest while being active on the internet, including Facebook and Twitter. The webpage of RADIO PROPAGANDHI! was also in use during the broadcasts. The screen of the computer was visible for the audience via a large screen it was connected to. The machine was also used for surfing the web for info about the field of the guest in question.

TYNSET FM was a developed version of the work of Tynset Project, who in 2006, with the production Beyond the longest mile by Ola Jonsmoen, outsourced a production to a company in the low cost country of Latvia.

RADIO PROPAGANDHI! was supported by Arts Council Norway.

Sources Black Box Teater Oslo, http://www.blackbox.no/, 12.10.2010, http://www.blackbox.no/content/titlePresentation.php?tid=2032&displayNav=false

Anna Helene Valvik (15.02.2010). Article titled Forakt og verdighet (literally: Contempt and dignity). Klassekampen [Oslo].

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

**A Norwegian TV show host and a Norwegian TV show.

"Throughout the play Morten Traavik sits in front of his Mac, which is connected to a projector. He rapidly surfs the web, downloads pages, displays images, plays video clips, all of it open and during the broadcast. We are allowed to see propaganda posters, anti-North Korea speeches, the trailer of a Norwegian produced rock musical reportedly made by North Korean refugees. We learn about the history of the country, but there is little doubt the credibility of Simonsen is questioned. (...) RADIO PROPAGANDHI! is not a theatre performance, but a radio show broadcasted live and creating an interesting tension in the strong confusion rising between seriousness and humiliation. Tynset FM provides a surreal realism in which we clash between wanting to laugh at the odd man while we consider how it must be to be a North Korean. We are lured to want to find out more about this closed, mysterious country, but scratch our heads in wonder where to find a credible source."

Anna Helene Valvik (15.02.2010). Article titled Forakt og verdighet (literally: Contempt and dignity). Klassekampen [Oslo]

"The guests participate in this manner in a game in which their own dignity is at stake. But as opposed to reality TV the audience is involved. We are encouraged to pose questions and be responsible. The production is accompanied by three singers singing about faith, hope and love. «The eternally female draws us onward,» Goethe wrote. This way bridges between differences in faith and culture are built. And RADIO PROPAGANDHI! is a production soaked with irony at so many levels, but the irony actually works as a near necessary contact. It makes us aware of the fact that we are some kind of experience tourists, and that it would be a mistake to pretend otherwise. But the irony also has the guests act with a certain distance to themselves. (...) This way Tynset FM negotiate how the theatre represents «the others». Read: Suppressed people, groups who are not seen nor heard. RADIO PROPAGANDHI! is a media critical production, but the criticism against the conformist media image is directed as much towards the consumers. Even though the production consciously reflects the quick pace of the media, and many questions could have been delved into, the three guests Bjørnar Simonsen, Winfried Walther and Peder A. Tyvand did not slide into the role of the «persecuted»."

Therese Bjørneboe (07.04.10), Review titled Utfordrer folk i salen (literally: Challenging people in the seats). Aftenposten [Oslo], http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentarer/article3595505.ece