Jan Mayen

In the stunt series Jan Mayen in The Open Theatre (Det Åpne Teater) the playwrights wrote based on a selected situation/idea. One playwright wrote the first instalment and passed the relay baton on to the next playwright who wrote his/her script based on what he/she had seen in the production made based on the first playwright’s text. The playwright now had a week to finish the script, upon which the actors only had a day of rehearsal time plus a limited amount of props/stage design. The production was a stunt and interaction with the audience, who could partly influence the action on stage, was encouraged.

Instalment 1 by Kim Atle Hansen, March 7 2007:
The two climate researchers Fred Amundsen and Jannicke Viig make a shocking discovery during their research at the weather station on the island Jan Mayen. Amundsen needs to bring it to the mainland because it is too late! But when the helicopter arrives, his wife May has disappeared. May, who had joined him on the island to save their marriage and take care of radio communication, can she possibly be wandering around in the storm and dearth of ice? Jannicke Viig doesn’t know the answer, but she knows that the helicopter touched the radio mast during landing, and that the pilot Victoria refuses to lift as long as there is still a storm pillaging. The world expects them, and there they are stuck. Fortunately The Artist was in the helicopter on its way up North – admittedly, he is suicidal, but he manages to improve the existence for all of them while time is running out for the discovery.

Instalment 2 by Iren Reppen, March 14 2007:
The storm rages on, the radio mast is not fixed and nor is the helicopter. The battle for the discovery has heightened and none of the persons on the weather station can be sure what the others’ agenda really is. May still is as sunken in the snow, the artist Vegard now is called Roar and both of the women have been in the bathing tub with Fred. . .

Instalment 3 by Turid Svensøy, March 21 2007:
The battle for the discovery and its future continues in the second to last episode. Will Fred get his memory back, and if he does, will he lose his ability to look into the future? Can they find out who the mysterious voice reading the weather report belonged to? Will Fred’s wife May reappear from the snow, and what happened when the artist (whose name is now Sølve) and Jannicke met for the first time during a party 14 years ago?

Instalment 4 by Tobias Barvik, March 28 2007:
Who was shot – the polar bear or Fred? Will the artist be able to escape the curse of the penguins and avoid turning into a woman? What really happened when Victoria (who we now know is the jealous little sister of Jannicke’s) was "crucified"? Where is the discovery and Fred’s wife May – and how will the madness end? This is the last episode – the hour of truth has come with surprises in the fine tradition of the soap opera.

Jan Mayen was supported by Writers’ Guild of Norway, The Fund for Performing Artists and Pecunia as.

Source: The Open Theatre (Det Åpne Teater), detapneteater.no, 30.10.2010, http://www.detapneteater.no/pub/daat/forestillinger/?aid=297&cid=17&sac=all&viewall=1#daat