(In English below)

 

Möt en föreställning som baserar sig på ett välkänt fenomen i sydliga och östliga trakter. Gråterskan rasar ut sin sorg över den avlidne och gör sorgeakten till något heligt och rensande.

 

Lament arbetar med reducerade uttryck, en ”fattig teater” om man talar genom polske Jerzy Grotowskis estetik. Föreställningen är endast en timme lång och är lika mycket dans som teater. Framför allt är den välkomponerad som ett musikstycke. Själva genregränserna överträds just genom att vi på scenen endast möter två skådespelare i ljus och mörker. Här får man ett teaterspråk som är levande, ordlöst och gestiskt, rått, brutalt och med stor skönhet. Kvinnornas röster är fångade mellan böner, viskningar och skrik.

 

Den fysiska teatern i Norden har en stark förkämpe i Grusomhetens Teater från Norge. Med den franske teatermannen Antonin Artauds tänkande i bagaget och Grotowskis metoder i praxis utforskar kompaniet teaterns rötter i vitt skilda typer av föreställningar. De senaste åren har gruppen gjort stor internationell succé med sina Ibsentolkningar Svanhild och Fjällfågeln. Den senare spelades på Atalante i Göteborg så sent som i februari 2015.

 

Länk till deras hemsida, med flera filmer om deras arbete: www.grusomhetensteater.no

 

SAMTAL

Grusomhetens Teaters speciella metod har mycket med dess konstnärlige ledare Lars Øynos sätt att arbeta att göra. Kom på samtal efter föreställningen om arbetet med Lament, tillsammans med ensemblen och Lars Øyno själv. Fri dryck utlovas och en timmes samtal kring Artaud och fysiskt teaters plats inom scenkonsten idag. Samtalet leds av Cinnobers konstnärlige ledare Svante Aulis Löwenborg.

 

Lament spelas

7 januari kl. 19.00

8 januari kl. 19.00

 

Samtal efter föreställningarna, i panel med Lars Øyno, Svante Aulis Löwenborg, Sara Fellman och Hanne Dieserud
7 januari kl. 20.15

8 januari kl. 20.15

 

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ENGLISH

Lament is the latest work by Grusomhetens Teater (Norway), an independent physical theater group in Oslo, inspired by the philosophy of Antonin Artaud. The evening length piece is directed by award winning director Lars Øyno.
 

Lament received its premiere on 9 October 2015, at the company´s permanent stage in Oslo. It is the company´s first new production since last year´s world premiere of Henrik Ibsen´s Svanhild, winner of the 2014 Oslo Prize, and which was remounted for the Oslo Opera House in July 2015.
 

Originally, Lament was conceived as the prologue for a larger original piece composed by Øyno entitled "Jesus Christ in Memoriam". When funding for this project was rejected by the Norwegian Arts Council twice, Grusomhetens Teater decided to expand this piece into an evening length original work, featuring performances by Hanne Dieserud and Sara Fellman.

Whereas Svanhild´s scenographic palette was rich in color and imagery, Lament is stripped down

and naked, a "poor theater" aesthetic in the tradition of Jerzy Grotowski. Clad in simple dark robes, these two women exist within an existential theatrical space of light and shadow, artfully sculpted by lighting designer Jan Skomakerstuen. They communicate in a theatrical language without words, their gestures raw and violent, their voices trapped between a prayer, a whisper, and a scream.
 

Lament is approximately 1 hour in length, and performed without interval.
Artist talk after both perfomances, held by the artistic director of the venue Cinnober, Svante Aulis Löwenborg.

 

Lament

7 January kl. 19.00

8 January kl. 19.00

 

Artist talk with Lars Øyno, Svante Aulis Löwenborg, Sara Fellman and Hanne Dieserud
7 January kl. 20.15

8 January kl. 20.15

 

 

 

Press quotes for Lament:

 

From an interview with director Lars Øyno:

“Lament is an expression of grief...It is an existential cry, the Earth ́s cry. It ́s something which is kept inside and hidden....We are not allowed to release it, because of the rigid restrictions of our civilization. But the theater should be free, anarchistic. A cry in a way releases the freedom, helps it break through.”

­­Ekaterina Pashevich, The Nordic Page 6 October 2015

 

From the reviews:

 

“The performance zooms in and magnifies gestures and sounds we know from our own natural feelings. The weeping and visceral physical expression occurs in the room as abstract quantities, as well as independent forces as the actors struggle, overwhelmed by or welcome them into their own body. As observers perceiving (the performance), it is difficult to immerse ourselves in the grief of their universe. Nonetheless, a form of purification arises in the face of these weeping women, because (Lament) is so clean, so concentrated, and so varied in all its apparent monotony.”

Inger Marie Kjølstadmyr, D agsavisen 12 October 2015

 

“Lars Øyno founded Grusomhetens Teater in 1992, and I consider him one of Norwegian performing arts ́ most distinctive and original voices.”
­­IdaLou Larsen, Klassekampen 12 October 2015

 

“Had not the Theater of Cruelty existed, we would have had to invent it. Because no one else does what they do...(Actors) Sara Fellman and Hanne Dieserud make a huge, demanding, and impressive work in the hour (L ament) lasts.”
­­Chris Erichsen, Scenekunst.no 13 October 2015

 

“...posed as artwork, and exploded as theater...L ament encourages intellectual reflection on cultural frameworks for crying and cultural understanding of crying, the ideals of self­restraint and ideals of emotions in free­fall.”
­­Lillian Bikset, Dagbladet 13 October 2015

 

“Lament invokes the inner, hidden feelings of every human being, makes people sympathize and care. This play is about basic laws of human existence. It is about life and, despite the gloominess and cruelty, L ament is celebrating life.

­­Ekaterina Pashevich, The Nordic Page 17 October 2015