Suzannah
Suzannah by Cinnober Teater (Sweden), text by Jon Fosse, music by Atli Ingólfsson. With The Gothenburg Chamber Soloists Cinnober Teater gave a theatrical/musical form to Jon Fosse’s so-called monologue for three actresses about Suzannah Ibsen, the wife of Henrik Ibsen.
Information
(Objekt ID 9810)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | October 14, 2006 |
| Produced by | Cinnober Teater |
| In collaboration with | |
| Based on | Suzannah by Jon Fosse |
| Audience | Adults |
| Number of events | 17 |
| Language | Swedish |
| Keywords | Musical theatre, Music, Theatre |
| Running period | December 5, 2005 — Navember 25, 2006 |
| Website | Cinnober Teater |
Requirements to venue
| Blackout | Yes |
Suzannah by Jon Fosse was written as a play in which three voices merge. Suzannah Ibsen steps forward as three characters; as a young woman in love and filled with expectations, as a mother and wife keeping the family together when her husband Henrik Ibsen experiences artistic progress and as an elderly, mourning woman after her husband’s death. Fosse’s text got its worldwide premiere as a TV drama made by NRK Drama in 2004.
In the version by Cinnober Teater the relationship between textual theatre and art music was explored and the result was a musical dramatic work bordering sound art. The freshly composed music by Atli Ingólfsson could be described as playful and virtuoso in a manner reminiscent of Jon Fosse’s rhythmic and repetitive writing style.
Jon Fosse’s text Suzannah is about time, memories and absence. We meet a woman who is incessantly waiting for her husband, a man she is deeply bound to and live for, but whose physical absence requires her full attention. At the same time Suzannah reflects that she has been the one to create the great playwright – by disciplining him and as inspiration for his female portraits.
The visiting performance in Oslo was part of the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, and it was supported by Arts Council Norway, Swedish Arts Council, the Ibsen Year 2006, The Norden Association’s Swedish-Norwegian collaboration fund and Nordic Culture Fund.
Source: Vallat, Marianne Dyrnes, Tom Klev og Kristian Selthun (2006). Black Box Teater Oslo. Høsten 2006. Black Box Teater Oslo [Oslo], 10-11
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Jon Fosse | – Playwright |
| Atli Ingólfsson | – Libretto |
| Svante Aulis Löwenborg | – Libretto |
| Svante Aulis Löwenborg | – Translation |
| Svante Aulis Löwenborg | – Direction |
| Atli Ingólfsson | – Composer |
| Råger Johansson | – Stage design |
| Liselotte Zetterlund | – Costume design |
| Lars Indrek Hansson | – Sound design |
| Anna Wemmert Claussen | – Lighting design |
| Sara Estling | – Actor (Den unge Suzannah) |
| Anna Forsell (from October 14, 2006 to Navember 25, 2006) | – Actor (Den middelaldrende Suzannah) |
| Helén Hansson (from December 5, 2005 to January 2006) | – Actor (Den middelaldrende Suzannah) |
| Lena Nordberg | – Actor (Den gamle Suzannah) |
| Marcus Alexandersson (from October 14, 2006 to Navember 25, 2006) | – Musician (Klarinett) |
| Christian Berg | – Musician (Cello) |
| Maria Ingemarsson Berg | – Musician (Klaver) |
| Andreas Edlund (from December 5, 2005 to January 2006) | – Musician (Klarinett) |
| Ann Elkjär | – Musician (Fløyte / Klaver) |
| David Hansson | – Musician (Gitar) |
| David Kangasniemi | – Musician (Slagverk) |
| Magnus Larsson (from December 5, 2005 to January 2006) | – Musician (Fiolin) |
| Jakob Olofsson (from December 5, 2005 to January 2006) | – Musician (Slagverk) |
| Amund Sjølie Sveen (from October 14, 2006 to Navember 25, 2006) | – Musician (Slagverk) |
| Joar Skorpen (from October 14, 2006 to Navember 25, 2006) | – Musician (Fiolin) |
| Anna Svensdotter (from October 19, 2006 to Navember 25, 2006) | – Musician (Fløyte) |
| Jill Widén (from December 5, 2005 to January 2006) | – Musician (Fløyte) |
| Svante Aulis Löwenborg | – Tour manager |
| Anna Forsell | – Producer |
| Gunno Palmquist | – Musical Instructor |
| Navember 25, 2006 – Atalante | Show |
| October 20, 2006 – Main Stage, The National Theatre of Iceland | Show |
| October 19, 2006 – Main Stage, The National Theatre of Iceland | Show |
| October 15, 2006 – Store scene Black Box Teater (Marstrandgata) | Show |
| October 14, 2006 – Store scene Black Box Teater (Marstrandgata) | National premiere, Norway |
| December 5, 2005 – Atalante | Opening night |
| Ultima | October 14, 2006 |
"Playful and yet strictly virtuoso, at the same time hyper-intellectual and hypnotically sensual as if one was lulled into a poem. (...) Ingólfsson’s music is easy to be enchanted by. It flows richly and without dogma, perfect for the ambitious of Gothenburg Chamber Soloists, between innovative and traditional."
Sven Rånlund, GöteborgsPosten December 7 2005
"It is really not destiny that catches my attention but the diverse interpretation of the memory’s movement between a secure chain of continuity to a broken perception of reality in which the pieces of the puzzle have become disordered and are moved around, sometimes with afterthought, sometimes without plan. A lightly dizzying feeling arise."
Marita Adamsson, Bohusläningen December 8 2005