Title (29) File type Publiseringsdato Download
Anmeldelse i Adresseavisen av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2" (1995) pdf August 31, 1995 Download
Anmeldelse i Arbeiderbladet av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 1" (1995) pdf Download
Anmeldelse i Arbeiderbladet av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 2" (1995) pdf June 1, 1995 Download
Anmeldelse i Bergens Arbeiderblad av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf September 22, 1995 Download
Anmeldelse i Bergens Tidende av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf September 23, 1995 Download
Anmeldelse i Morgenbladet av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf August 18, 1995 Download
Anmeldelse i Nationen av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 1" (1995) pdf March 9, 1995 Download
Anmeldelse i Nationen av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf August 19, 1995 Download
Flyer for Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 1" (1995) pdf 1995 Download
Forestillingsprogram for Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2. Del 2" (1995) pdf 1995 Download
Forestillingsprogram for trilogien "2 1/2. Del 2" (1995) av Det Motsatte Prosjekt pdf September 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 2" (1995) pdf May 30, 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale i Adresseavisen av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf August 29, 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale i Aftenposten av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 1" (1995) pdf March 8, 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale i Arbeiderbladet av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 1" (1995) pdf March 6, 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale i Arbeiderbladet av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/1. Del 2" (1995) pdf May 29, 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale i Arbeiderbladet av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf August 9, 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale i Göteborgs-posten av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf September 12, 1995 Download
Forhåndsomtale i Urban av Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2. Del 2" (1995) pdf May 1995 Download
Intervju av Geir Kristian Lund i Klassekampen om Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2" (1995) pdf August 14, 1995 Download
Intervju i Dag og Tid om Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2. Del 2" (1995) pdf March 10, 1995 Download
Intervju i Dag og Tid om Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2. Del 2" (1995) pdf August 24, 1995 Download
Intervju om Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2. Del 2" (1995) pdf 1995 Download
Omtale i VG av Det Motsatte Prosjekts trilogi "2 1/2" (1995) pdf August 14, 1995 Download
Performance program for the trilogy 2 1/2 by Det Motsatte Prosjekt pdf 1995 Download
Plan for lys. Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2" (1995) pdf Download
Program for Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2. Del 1" (1995) pdf 1995 Download
Scenografiplan for for Det Motsatte Prosjekts produksjon "2 1/2. Del 2" (1995) pdf Download
Sesongprogram for Teaterhuset Avant Garden høst 1995 pdf August 1995 Download

2 1/2

2 1/2 (1995) was a theatre trilogy by Det motsatte prosjekt2 1/2 was based on texts by Torun Lian and Niels Fredrik Dahl. The titles of the three parts were:

Part 1: To er en for mye og en er bare en halv* (Two are one too many and one is just a half).

Part 2: Ordinary Red Wine (by Niels Fredrik Dahl).

Part 3: Natt/hotel* (Night/Hotel) (by Torun Lian).

Jon Tombre directed it.

Parts 1 and 2 were performed in March and May 1995, whereas the trilogy in full had its premiere in August 1995.

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

Information

(Objekt ID 7222)
Object type Production
Premiere March 7, 1995
Produced by Det Motsatte Prosjekt
Based on Ordinary Red Wine by Niels Fredrik Dahl; Natt/hotell* (Night/Hotel) by Torun Lian
Audience Adults
Number of events 26
Language Norwegian
Keywords Theatre, Dance theatre, Dance, Physical theatre
Running period March 7, 1995  —  September 23, 1995
Duration 2 hours including an interval

Requirements to venue

Blackout Yes
More

In the performance program for 2 1/2 dramaturge Dag Johan Haugerud wrote the following:

"HOWEVER STRANGE A STORY MAY BE the way to tell it is what is literature. Such is also the way of the theatre. The narration is the theatre. If one masters the language, one can make even the simplest story exciting.

When we began working with To er en for mye og en er bare en halv* (Two are one too many and one is just a half) no script existed. We knew what the subject of the story should be, but not how it should develop. All we had was the language. Hence, through the language we found the story.

In this language words are absent. It consists of movement, processed from a series of principles. Much of it consists of recognisable everyday actions and patterns of actions springing out from, or being part of, different situations.

The principles are the words and the rhythm and pace constitute the story.

It is a tangible language. It is recognisable. It is it the same way the history in itself is it. It is about the relationship between man and woman. How they are attracted to one another and want each other, but never at the same time. It is a story one can perceive as banal. But if one does, it is because it is common. And that also is why one never is done with telling it.

It is a classical story, given a simple language. What you see is what you get. More than that one doesn't need."

In the performance program for 2 1/2 playwright Niels Fredrik Dahl wrote the following:

"AT THE TIME, I STARTED ORDINARY RED WINE BECAUSE I NEEDED TO VENT. I was involved in writing on commission for a medium-sized Norwegian institutional theatre and to be able to breathe at all I decided to start a parallel project. I was to write exactly like I wanted to, without regard to established laws for dramaturgy, without regard to demands for "action", "beginning, middle, end", "peripety" and "premise". In many regards I wanted to write an unproduceable play. All I gathered beforehand was a situation with obvious opportunities for conflict: A divorced couple meets to play strip poker. From there I only needed to open the blender.

The writing on commission broke down, but the divorced couple became the basis of Ordinary Red Wine - the best drama I had written, I thought. Norwegian theatres did not think so. In surrendered desperation I rewrote the play to prose and let it end the short story collection Fluenes gate* (Street of flies) (1990). Suddenly more people got their eyes open for the "theatrical potential" of the text, and luckily Jon Tombre was among them - though this was by no means obvious. We had known each other for some years and could talk about much, but not theatre.

I was deeply anchored in the modernist tradition within established drama and was in particular concerned with the plays of Harold Pinter. I focused on the institutional theatres, the establishment. Jon came from modern dance and the purely physical theatre expression, had barely visited The National Theatre and was as off-Broadway as one could become. I had, however, followed his productions and seen that he in addition to being brave and respectless also is in possession of what Ionesco describes as a certain naivety: "...a naivety which is not simplicity of mind, and an ignorance which does not rule out knowledge, but which assimilates and rejuvenates it." To me he seemed a wild child, a wolf boy, of Norwegian theatre, and it became clear to me that he must be given fully free reins with the text. Also that when what I called "the stage design of the words" and "the dramaturgy of the words" (that the very theatre space and all action should raise from the said and the unsaid, between subtext and text, and create a production void of physical and scenic effects - the principles for the writing process of Ordinary Red Wine) met Jon's methods of working and principles, something exciting could happen. I tried to believe in the maxim that the text is the musical score and gave him free rein. One can safely say he used this. I don't think we should keep it a secret that the performance takes place far from the original intentions of the writer. Nor do I intend to hide that I am very pleased with the result. That I do not agree with all the text manipulations is overshadowed by the joy of no longer feeling like one of the many who carry water to a dying dinosaur."

In the performance program Det Motsatte Prosjekt directs thanks to: Bergen International Theatre, Avant Garden, Teater Bastard, Entrescenen and Kaleidoskop.

The production was supported by The Audio Visual Fund, Arts Council Norway, The Fund for Performing Artists, Nordic Council of Ministers' committee for performing arts, The Open Theatre (Det Åpne Teater), the municipality of Oslo, The Norwegian Union of Stage Directors' fund Norsk regifond, the municipality of Bergen, Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre), the fund of Per Gjersøe, the publishing house Cappelen and Studio Scarpa.

Sources:

Jon Tombre's private archive, donated by Jon Tombre. 03.03.2009

Birthe-Lisbeth Ludvigsen: The University of Bergen paper Frie teatergrupper og prosjektteater i Bergen 1970-2006 - en kontekstualisert oversikt og beskrivelse (literally: Independent Theatre Companies and Project Theatres in Bergen 1970-2006 – a contextualised overview and description), UiB 2007

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

Contributors (16)
Name Role
Niels Fredrik Dahl – Text
Torun Lian – Text
Jon Tombre – Adapted by
Jon Tombre – Direction
Dag Johan Haugerud – Dramaturge
Yngvar Julin – Room
Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk – Performer (Del 1 og Del 3)
Jørgen Langhelle – Performer (Del 2)
Martin Lundberg – Performer (Del 1)
Camilla Martens – Performer (Del 1, Del 2 og Del 3)
Runa Rebne – Performer (Del 3)
Jon Tombre – Performer (Del 1)
Mona Haug – Photo
Torunn Nilsen – Photo
Lorentz Wilhelm Brinch – Technician
Shaun Henrik Mathesson – Technician
Press coverage

IdaLou Larsen, juni 1995, Nationen [Oslo]:
"The nice and exciting thing with Ordinary Red Wine is just that Niels Fredrik Dahl and the actors have liberated fully from the specific language normally used onstage. The way the lines are phrased the spectator is provided with a strong sense of identification, some kind of Eureka moment of yes, this is how we talk together, we humans of today. This makes Ordinary Red Wine unusual and fascinating theatre."