Eg er i går* (I am yesterday)

At the webpage of Sogn og Fjordane Theatre the following, among other things, is written about Eg er i går* (I am yesterday):

"Alvhild and her younger sister are going through the hay in search for kittens when their fingers feel hard steel. They find arms their brothers in the resistance have hidden. They know very well that they are not to talk about it, that it is dangerous. Still, the Germans hear about it. The sisters are picked up by soldiers and interrogated at the Gestapo ship anchored in Førde. Two of their brothers are sent to a concentration camp, and one goes into hiding in the mountains. All three of them survive the war. But one of them will never again be who he was.

The story is true, told by hundred-year-old Alvhild Stafsnes. She has always felt guilty about what happened. As the eldest of the sisters she should have taken greater care, she thinks. This is the personal war within the war.

This and many other stories from 1930 and until now are put on the stage in Eg er i går. The play is the result of a large project at Sogn og Fjordane Theatre. The text for the production is based on interviews with seniors in the county, aged from seventy-something to 100 years. They belong to the youngest generation who experienced the war. The years under German occupation have marked their lives, but this is not their only subject. They talk of falling in love, the patter of tiny feet, the first television. They built roads between villages, and they built the country."

A newer text at the same webpage includes the following information, among other things:

"Twelve life stories from the last still living of the war generation becomes one theatre production. The script is based on interviews with Alvhild Stafsnes and eleven others of the county's seniors, aged from 70-something to more than a hundred. When they were children, they lived in farms providing them with food. Then came war, then came love, then came children, work, struggles and joy. Then came old age and loneliness. We institutionalise childhood and old age both, so that we are unable to reach one another with the stories we could have shared. Now, Sogn og Fjordane reaches out a hand to all the generations following these twelve (SIC).

The working method is not new to Sogn og Fjordane Theatre. Several productions have been made from interviews with real people. However, former interviewees have been anonymous, but the seniors are presented under full names. They stem from all parts of Sogn og Fjordane, and they represent a selection of the eldest inhabitants of the county. They also contribute authentic photo material from the lives they have led."

SOURCES:

Sogn og Fjordane Theatre, www.softeater.no, 21.12.2017, https://www.softeater.no/framsyningsliste/egerigaar

Sogn og Fjordane Theatre, www.softeater.no, 29.10.2018, https://www.softeater.no/framsyningsliste/egerigaar

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