Bima and Bramati
Bima and Bramati by Tord Akerbæk was a theatre production by and with Traverse Theatre and The Open Theatre (Det Åpne Teater), directed by Franzisca Aarflot. It had its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2004.
In Bima and Bramati two accidental ward mates in a nursing home embark on an existential expedition. Their goal is the window at the end of the corridor. Their means are stolen sugar lumps and twisted imagination. They may be ageing amputees on life support machines, but they don’t care: Their future lies beyond the threshold. But how to cross it?
Bima and Bramati was supported by The Norwegian Arts Council and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Source: The Open Theatre (Det Åpne Teater), Archive, playbill Bima and Bramati
Information
(Objekt ID 8922)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | August 7, 2004 |
| Coproducers | Traverse Theatre, The Open Theatre (Det Åpne Teater) |
| Based on | Bima and Bramati by Tord Akerbæk |
| Audience | Adults |
| Language | English |
| Keywords | Theatre, Theatre of the absurd, Chamber play, Comedy |
| Running period | August 7, 2004 |
| Duration | 75 minutes |
| Website | Det Åpne Teater, Traverse Theatre |
Requirements to venue
| Blackout | No |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Tord Akerbæk | – Playwright |
| Grace Barnes | – Translation |
| Franzisca Aarflot | – Direction |
| Chris Lightfoot | – Stage design |
| Chris Lightfoot | – Costume design |
| Maureen Allan | – Actor (Bramati) |
| Nicholas Hope | – Actor (Bima ) |
"It's the sort of off-the wall quirkiness the Traverse was founded on." The Herald
"Funny, clever and bewitchingly odd." Metro
"It's Samuell Beckett's Happy Days, 50 years too late and about a tenth as well written." The Scotsman
“Tord Akerbaek obviously aspires to be the Norwegian Samuel Beckett. This fits nicely with the approach of the Det Apne Teater company whose previous Fringe successes, including last year's Like Thunder, have always been opaque in their meanings. [...] Bima and Bramati is not an easy play but has a rich vein of humour. With its serious investigation into the nature of existence and companionship, it rewards those who are willing to make the intellectual effort to engage with it. It also features fine performances from the trapped actors.” Philip Fisher. The Edinburgh Fringe. The British Theatre Guide
“To read that the playwright Tord Akerbaek has a degree in human-machine communication is no surprise. In his latest work, Bima and Bramati, there are just two humans, inseparable from a supporting cast of medical machinery of dialysis, oxygen, iron lung, etc. With a Spaghetti Junction of tubes and cables contained in mermaid-like tails conjoined at a fuse-box, Bima and Bramati hover helplessly on wooden swings, fellow amputees thrust together for company and survival. The bullying Bima (Nicholas Hope) and the querulous Bramati (Maureen Allan) pass the time with verbal jousting, alienated in this clinical no man's land with no sense of time or place, pondering the possibility that the world has come to an end. We know nothing of their previous lives, but we do know that the future looks decidedly grey. As bleak as Beckett, in fact, but with fewer interesting layers. [...] It is a radio play, not theatre. As Bima puts it: "For someone with so little to say, you manage to talk endlessly."” Lynne Walker. Characters lost in a tangle of endless chat. The Independent.