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'Grusomheten's Teater' (The Theater Of Cruelty)
production The Mountain Bird is a world premiere of Henrik Ibsen's
unfinished opera libretto from 1859. The libretto is based on a legend
about a young girl who lived at the farm 'Birkehaug' in Justedalen.
She was the only survivor of the plague that swiped this valley. When
people from the next Parish found her after several years, she was
acting “shy and wild as the bird” due to the loneliness she had
suffered. When villagers from other valleys found her, she had become
wild as a little mountain bird. She was nicknamed “the Grouse in
Justedalen”.
'Grusomheten's Teater' is searching a new and
different way for this production by using an older text from the
romantic period. The Theatre of Cruelty follows their own path and
creates distinctive performances. We believe it is in the 'silence of
a forgone time', that meanings will emerge. One might say that this
project has more in common with the poet Arthur Rimbaud's thoughts of
“Alchemy of the Words”.
The Mountainbird was chosen by 'Grusomheten's
Teater' because it represents a being, undisturbed by society and as a
symbol of freedom. The 'Grusomheten's Teater' created a very bold and
innovative performance based on a physical language on stage.
Eight actors, two musicians on 'the langeleik
and the hardingfele' (Norwegian traditional instruments), explore
both stage and texts by using physical theatrical language, ritual
procession and music. The original procession where characters pass
the stage in slow motion is the great signature of 'Grusomheten's
Teater'.
The composer Filip Sande's styled visual
compositions, create music that pushes the action forward and
strengthens the mood on stage. The interaction between Lars Pedersens
'langeleik and glockenspiel', and Laura Ellestads fiddle, is smooth.
The Theatre of Cruelty gives us quite a special experience in their
spraypainted building in Hausmans street; none the less, an original
world premier of an unknown Ibsen-play, is not experienced every day.
The founder of the theatre and artistic leader Lars
Řyno takes a starting point in Antonin Artaud's theatre theories that
combine physics and psychology, art and the lived life. The text is
supposed to be equal to the movements. The text is not the most
important in 'Mountain Bird', and fits therefore perfectly to the
theory. There is no traditional dialogue or action.
This is a play for the curious and for those
wishing to experience a different Ibsen. |
