The Norwegian Storytelling Festival 2010
Fortellerhuset and Albatrass invited to The Norwegian Storytelling Festival 2010 in Dramatikkens Hus: The topic for The Norwegian Storytelling Festival 2010 was "breaks"; stories in which a break changes the story completely. Breaks create uncertainty, change and open for a new course. One can break bread and contracts, countries and lives together. The rainbow is the result of light breaking. There are broken pieces, breakthroughs, quarries where stone is broken out of a mountain, breaking of bones, electricity breaks and broken trust.
Information
(Objekt ID 7978)| Object type | Production |
| Coproducers | Fortellerhuset, Albatrass |
| In collaboration with | Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP), Norwegian Storytelling Association, FabelAkt |
| Audience | All, Adults, Youth, Families, Children |
| Language | Norwegian and English |
| Keywords | Storytelling theatre, Lecture, Seminar, Music, Other, Performance for children, Dialogue seminar, Conversation(s), Workshop, Fairytale, Documentary |
| Running period | June 2, 2010 — June 6, 2010 |
| Website | Fortellerfestivalen, Fortellerhuset, Albatrass, Dramatikkens hus |
Requirements to venue
| Blackout | No |
The Norwegian Storytelling Festival 2010 in Dramatikkens Hus offered productions, music, professional symposiums and classes for beginners and experienced storytellers. Young, old, experienced and debuting storytellers participated. There was a national storytelling slam final, a young storyteller stage, stories from real life, stories from work life and a family program with free activities and performances for children.
THE FESTIVAL PROGRAM June 2. - 6. 2010:
Wednesday June 2 2010:
Beginner course in oral storytelling with Anne Kleive.
Scenic presence – course for experienced performers with Kate Pendry.
Lecture and discussion with Sara Benincasa about comedy, standup and the art of storytelling.
Thursday June 3 2010:
Festival opening: The opening performance always gives a taste of what the festival has to offer, and in 2010 the topic was breaks and contrasts. The audience got to hear the international and Norwegian storytellers interacting with guitarist Knut Reiersrud. Storytellers: Sara Benincasa (USA), Clare Murieann Murphy (Ireland), Pelle Olsson (Sweden), Anne Kleive (Norway) and Jan Kurt Vølner Claussen (Norway). Direction: Ragnhild Mørch.
Olemic Thommessen opened the festival with festival manager Sara Birgitte Øfsti.
Friday June 3 2010:
The good story - Symposium: The professional symposium during the storytelling festival is a tradition. It marks the day for professional input, new angles to the profession of storytelling, some thought-provokers and some inspiration. A good story should be like a fish: A head biting the attention of the listener, a firm and tight body, a blow with its tail – and whoops, it’s gone. The good story is frequently discussed. One searches for it and dreams about it. But can one define what a good story is? The Norwegian Storytelling Festival asked four different professionals who all use stories actively in their work, about the criteria for a good story. The ad man Gjermund Stenberg Eriksen, theatre critic IdaLou Larsen, idea historian Eivind Engebretsen and an artist came to reveal what is required from a good story and what purposes a good story has in their own daily work lives. Host: Kristine Haugland
StorySlam – Semi final: During the spring of 2010 seven local finals have been arranged, each with 4-7 storytellers competing for a spot in the semi final. Never before have so many Norwegian storytellers participated in a contest and never has the level been as high. The audience got to choose who of the seven competitors should go on to the Sunday final.
Agorafabulous – performance by and with Sara Benincasa, about agoraphobia and panic attacks: When your mother comes to visit because she wonders if something is wrong, and have a look at the living room in which bowls and pots with pee, it’s hard to get her to understand that the toilet is dangerous while convincing her you are an adult, responsible person!
Fragments from family life: The family consists of the people we never chose and who we, in one way or another, will be attached to for the rest of our lives. Perhaps all families should have their dose of conflicts, breaks, arguing, mediation, conciliation, crying, tears and gore? The Norwegian Storytelling Festival kept testing the concept of Spoken word, the genre rooming everything from poetry to standup and everything in between, when inviting Sara Benincasa, Pelle Olsson, Anne Kleive, Hannah Wozene Kvam, Lise Sæther, Charlotte Øster and Karl André Skevik to share fragments from family life with the audience. The host was Christer Torjussen.
Saturday June 5 2010:
Prøverommet (The Rehearsal Room): The audience met storytellers wishing to test their stories for an audience. New and experienced storytellers from all over Norway registered and were allotted 15 minutes of time each and a place onstage. Marianne Krogh, Hallvard Austlid, Aina Marie Svendsen and Kari Elisabeth Svare tested material while Sara Birgitte Øfsti hosted the program.
Irish fairies, the truth about the little people: Performance for children in English, by and with Clare Muireann Murphy: Do the Irish fairies stem from the Gods? Are they friends or foes? What should you do if you capture a fairy, or worse, if the fairy captures you? Clare Muireann Murphy told about the people of Wee who live a subterranean life, a naughty and tricky people who like messing up humans’ lives the most.
Young Storytelling Stage: For the first time in the history of The Norwegian Storytelling Festival there was an own venue for youth, in which the young ones told their own stories on their own terms. The audience got to meet new storytelling talents. Youth from Oslo and Strømmen had worked with musician Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød for some weeks, and the result was staged during the festival.
Eros and Psyche with Tone Bolsad Fløde and Hilde Johanne Aafoss: How far are we willing to go to regain what we once lost? How much should we fight for love? This is a musical production in which the antique love myth is broken up with stories from our times. The love myth of Eros and Psyche is about the joys and challenges of passion.
Professional stories: When so-called 'ordinary people' tell stories from their work, involvement and knowledge are displayed. The storytelling festival asked four different professionals working with different types of breaks if they could tell about their jobs.
Det finns ingenting som inte har hänt (literally: There is nothing that hasn’t happened) by and with Pelle Olsson: Incredible stories from the world of hospitals, about murder and other bloody stuff.
The Companion: by and with Abbi Patrix: A version of the Asbjørnsen and Moe fairytale The Companion told with one body, one voice and one drum.
Sunday June 6 2010:
Brudd (literally: Breaks) by and with Tone Bolstad Fløde, Anne Kleive, Hilde Johanne Aafoss and Jan Kurt Vølner Claussen: The production Brudd is in many ways the classic storyteller performance. Four storytellers, one of whom with a viola. One subject, and then the rest are up to the storytellers.
Lille syngende lam (literally: Little Singing Lamb) by and with Nima Hajiri and Mohammad Mirzazadeh: A performance for the family building on an old Persian fairytale.
Skyskraperprinsessen (literally: The Skyscraper Princess) by and with storyteller Ylva Sjaastad and musician Amund Sjølie Sveen: A modernised musical version of the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale Rapunzel.
A Walk on the wild side by and with Clare Muireann Murphy: Ireland – the fatherland of the saints or the scholars? Or perhaps the Celtic tiger? The truth about a culture lays in roots, myths and stories shaping the country prior to written accounts; the epic wars digging out valleys, the tragic love giving names to rivers and mountains, the footprints from great warriors who made the paths for a civilization to come. Join a voyage into the wild and mad side of Ireland, where women run naked into battle, where pirate queens tattle with English royals and madness turn men into monstrous warriors obsessed with anger. A place where this world and the other world are connected and men, gods and half-gods interact.
StorySlam – Final: The winners from the semi finals meet in the final of Norwegian Storyslam. The audience takes part in choosing the best storyteller in Norway.
Festival ending: Sara Benincasa, Pelle Olsson, Clare Murieann Murphy and Abbi Patrix contributed with each their last story. The Norwegian rock band Ompakara joined in with ten men and tuba music in a rough version. Direction: Ragnhild Mørch
Family program in Teaterplassen Saturday and Sunday: The festival invited to storytelling theatre, song and games for the family. Tone Bolstad Fløde, Jan Kurt Vølner Claussen, Anne Kleive, Ylva Sjaastad and Raymond Sereba brought their best stories, drums and songs.
The Norwegian Storytelling Festival 2010 was supported by Arts Council Norway, the freedom of expression foundation Fritt Ord, the municipality of Oslo and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via The Norwegian Association of Performing Arts.
Sources:
The Norwegian Storytelling Festival, fortellerfestivalen.no, 29.10.2010, http://fortellerfestivalen.no/2010/program
Dramatikkens hus, dramatikkenshus.no, 29.10.2010, http://dramatikkenshus.no/pub/dramatikkenshus/Innhold/kalenderarkiv/?aid=974&cid=1045#dramatikkenshus
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Ragnhild Alette Mørch | – Direction ("Festivalåpningforestilling") |
| Ragnhild Alette Mørch | – Direction ("Festivalavslutningforestilling") |
| Nima Khabazian Hajiri | – Musician ("Lille syngende lam") |
| Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød | – Musician ("Ung Fortellerscene") |
| Mohammad Mirzazadeh | – Musician ("Lille syngende lam") |
| Knut Reiersrud | – Musician ("Festivalåpningforestilling") |
| Raymond Sereba | – Musician ("Familieprogram på Teaterplassen") |
| Amund Sjølie Sveen | – Musician ("Skyskraperprinsessen") |
| Sara Birgitte Øfsti Nesje | – Project manager (Festivalsjef) |
| Anne Gleditsch Kleive | – Pedagog ("Nybegynnerkurs i muntlig fortelling") |
| Kate Pendry | – Pedagog ("Scenisk nærvær") |
| Kristine Haugland | – Other (Konferansier "Den gode fortelling") |
| IdaLou Larsen | – Other (Paneldeltaker "Den gode fortelling") |
| Sara Birgitte Øfsti Nesje | – Other (Vert "Prøverommet") |
| Olemic Thommesen | – Other (Festivalåpning) |
| Christer Seeberg Torjussen | – Other (Vert "Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Sara Benincasa | – Storyteller ("Agorafabulous") |
| Sara Benincasa | – Storyteller ("Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Sara Benincasa | – Storyteller (Foredrag om komedie, stand-up og fortellerkunst.) |
| Sara Benincasa | – Storyteller ("Festivalåpningforestilling") |
| Sara Benincasa | – Storyteller ("Festivalavslutningforestilling") |
| Jan Kurt Vølner Claussen | – Storyteller ("Brudd") |
| Jan Kurt Vølner Claussen | – Storyteller ("Festivalåpningforestilling") |
| Jan Kurt Vølner Claussen | – Storyteller ("Familieprogram på Teaterplassen") |
| Tone Bolstad Fløde | – Storyteller ("Brudd") |
| Tone Bolstad Fløde | – Storyteller ("Eros og Psyke") |
| Tone Bolstad Fløde | – Storyteller ("Familieprogram på Teaterplassen") |
| Nima Khabazian Hajiri | – Storyteller ("Lille syngende lam") |
| Anne Gleditsch Kleive | – Storyteller ("Brudd") |
| Anne Gleditsch Kleive | – Storyteller ("Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Anne Gleditsch Kleive | – Storyteller ("Festivalåpningforestilling") |
| Anne Gleditsch Kleive | – Storyteller ("Familieprogram på Teaterplassen") |
| Hannah Wozene Kvam | – Storyteller ("Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Mohammad Mirzazadeh | – Storyteller ("Lille syngende lam") |
| Clare Murieann Murphy | – Storyteller ("Festivalåpningforestilling") |
| Clare Murieann Murphy | – Storyteller ("Irish fairies, the truth about the little people") |
| Clare Murieann Murphy | – Storyteller ("A Walk on the wild side") |
| Clare Murieann Murphy | – Storyteller ("Festivalavslutningforestilling") |
| Pelle Olsson | – Storyteller ("Det finns ingenting som inte har hänt") |
| Pelle Olsson | – Storyteller ("Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Pelle Olsson | – Storyteller ("Festivalåpningforestilling") |
| Pelle Olsson | – Storyteller ("Festivalavslutningforestilling") |
| Abbi Patrix | – Storyteller ("The Companion") |
| Abbi Patrix | – Storyteller ("Festivalavslutningforestilling") |
| Raymond Sereba | – Storyteller ("Familieprogram på Teaterplassen") |
| Ylva Sjaastad | – Storyteller ("Skyskraperprinsessen") |
| Ylva Sjaastad | – Storyteller ("Familieprogram på Teaterplassen") |
| Karl André Skevik | – Storyteller ("Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Lise Jorunn Sæther | – Storyteller ("Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Charlotte Øster | – Storyteller ("Bruddstykker fra familielivet") |
| Hilde Johanne Aafoss | – Storyteller ("Eros og Psyke") |
| Hilde Johanne Aafoss | – Storyteller ("Brudd") |
| June 6, 2010 – Hallen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 6, 2010 – Prøvesalen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 5, 2010 – Hallen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 5, 2010 – Prøvesalen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 4, 2010 – Hallen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 4, 2010 – Prøvesalen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 3, 2010 – Hallen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 3, 2010 – Prøvesalen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 2, 2010 – Hallen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |
| June 2, 2010 – Prøvesalen, Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting (NCNP) | Other |