Voices from the North – Norwegian Contemporary Playwriting Series

Who will be there when everything falls apart?

Producer: Ibsen International

Co-Producer: Free Theatre Alliance

Supported by： Beijing International Fringe Festival

Language: Chinese

Beijing Qinglan Theatre, 25th -26th September 19:30

Small Theatre of Zhejiang Province Cultural Center, 28th September 19:30

Beijing Penghao Theatre, The 9th Nanluoguxiang Performing Arts Festival 26th-27th July, 19:30 

SYNOPSIS

An intimate and unrefined work about loneliness and sense of belonging. It is a warm summer night, and a group of boys drink beer and go for a swim. Two people come walking by. Everything goes wrong. Everybody involved needs someone with whom to share the incident. Someone to blame. They search for security, while life is destroyed. Who have you been, and who will you be when everything is turned upside down?

In the performance La deg være (Let you be) this and other stories are told through the characters Person, Friend, Acquaintance, Stranger and Enemy. Every story and every encounter is connected, and the result is a tale about loneliness, severance, a sense of belonging and who we are to each other. But this is also a story about hope, mercy and love – and about who is by our side when the Earth shatters.

Words from Director

La deg være (Let you be) is norwegian Arne Lygres latest play. Let you be consists of a flow of multiple stories, the human condition on its must vulnerable is in focus. With strong existential drive Lygre‘s universe shows life’s many dualities. The balance and interaction is always between good intentions and fatal outcome. Let you be is a thouching and brutal look into life as it occurs both as fiction and in real.

Bios 

Director: Jon Tombre

Jon Tombre was educated in Paris and Oslo with more than 60 performing arts productions. His main focus is contemporary theatre, he has staged a wide range of international and Norwegian contemporary writers as Jon Foss, Sam Sheppard, David Harrower, the Presnyakov brothers and Günter Grass . His performances are dedicated to experimentation and exploration of the fine boarders between theater, dance, visual arts and music. Jon Tombre has carved a niche for himself in the world of explorative theatre. He has several times been nominated to the Norwegian Hedda Prize and in 2014 and 2016 he was acclaimed with the Critics prize of Norway.

Playwright: Arne Lygre

Playwright and novelist Arne Lygre, born in Bergen in 1968, began to write drama at the age of 25. Af of now, he has written 8 stage scripts, 2 novels, and has become one of the most renown and performed Norwegian authors internationally. His work was staged in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Estonia, Portugal, France, Italy, United Kingdrom and translated in many other languages. In 2013, he won the prestigious Ibsen Prize for his play “I Disappear”. From 2014 to 2016, he was in-house playwright at Oslo’s National Theatre.

Credits:

Performers：Xiaojing Chang, Jialong Li, Hailin Wang, Xin Xu, Kan Zhou,

Translator: Wenyan Zou

Stage design： Jon Tombre

Technical Director: Qixu Wang

Costumes: Lin Song

Design: Yuanqing Wang, Jianshi Zhang

Photographer: Da Sheng, Chi Shuai

Executive Producer (Ibsen Intenational)： Xiaobin Li, Jennifer Zhang

Producer (Free Theatre Alliance): Yangyang Sun, Wei Diao

Producer (Ibsen Intenational): Fabrizio Massini

Mike Van Graan, one of the leading contemporary playwrights in South Africa, was a participant of Ibsen International’s Next Text-New Stage project.

Photo by Suzy Berstein 

Over a period of nine months in 2015, Van Graan and other seven playwrights from around the world developed their respective scripts during three organized workshops in China.

The completed production of When Swallows Cry, written by Mike Van Graan during this project made its South African premiere at the Market Theatre in January 2017. This latest work delves into the uncomfortable but topical issue of ‘foreigners’ and the global migration crisis – a Somali attempting to enter the United States legally; Zimbabwean refugees seeking asylum in Australia; and an American Aid worker held for ransom by Boko Haram affiliates in Kenya.

This play sees overwhelmingly positive reviews from multiple critiques. The following excepts from these reviews added resonance at the current time of rising xenophobic rhetoric and hate crimes across the United States and Europe.

“There is a desperate need, in my view,” Van Graan said during the interview for Scènes Critiques December Issue 2016, “for alternative theatre structures to emerge that recognize the inter-relatedness of privilege and exploitation, inclusion and exclusion, haves and have-nots, and that seek to address these as theatre-makers, as active global citizens and as human beings.”
( http://www.critical-stages.org/…/theatre-can-play-a-more-p…/ )

“Broken values, smashed dreams and theatre with devastating balance”
Published on Jan 18 2017, written by Robyn Sassen
https://robynsassenmyview.wordpress.com/t…/when-swallows-cry

Seldom do you get to feel privileged enough to experience a play with not only electric relevance to the brokenness of our current global society, but one which also brings together such a rich collaboration of skills that it shines from every direction.

When Swallows Cry aims high
Published on Jan 16 2017, written by Jennifer de Klerk
http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=41452

Most powerful, in my view, is the angry half-mad Kenyan commandant, raging about slavery, the sins of the past, a greedy, corrupt government and the exploitation of resources that still denies locals hope and a future. Not easy to examine such a complex topic in a play. Van Graan succeeds in what was surely his intention – turning numbers into people.

When Swallows Cry – a crying shame
Published on Jan 19 2017, written by Lesley Stones
http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=41467
The script delivers a lot of truths without moralising or preaching, and it’s riddled with humour and a tangible humanity.

Workshop Content

Together with the Free Theatre Alliance, Ibsen International presents this devising, physical and improvisational methods workshop: according to director Jon Tombre: Welcome to a workshop where methods of creating are explored. How to open the body and mind and get the room moving? How to lead and be led by what the process gives us instead of being prefixed on the result?
How to work in a creative dialogue between performers and director? Jon Tombre has many years of experience from innovate artistic practice. Crossing artistic boundaries and mixing both art forms and cultures is one of his most prominent trademarks as a director.

WHEN and WHERE

Rehearsals “Monkey Stories”, 10 – 19 Novmber (excluding 12-13), 10:00 – 18:00 at 77 Rehearsal Space ; Open workshop, 12 – 13 November (12:00 – 16:00) at Free Theatre Alliance (No. 100 Court Yard, Dongsishitiao Jia, Dongcheng District)

NTNS: “MONKEY STORIES “

Three actors in Jon Tombre’s new work “MONKEY STORIES – IT COULD BE ANYONE’S STORY” are also participating in the workshop. MONKEY STORIES, which will premiere in Norway on 18 January 2017. “Monkey Stories” is a performance based on excerpts from 8 texts created during in NEW TEXT, NEW STAGE II (NTNS). Three sessions of playwrights workshop “New texts, new stage” have been organized by Ibsen International since 2013. In SESSION 1: Selected young playwrights from China and Norway were invited to take part in the workshop and were required to submit one of their works, which they would like to work on. Then they were divided into two groups consisting of one Chinese and one Norwegian writer, lead by experienced dramaturges. SESSION 2: A workshop on directing: selected texts will be assigned to promising directors from China and Norway whom, under the guidance of international experts, will experiment with the mice-en-scene of the plays. SESSION 3: Stage the full-scale performances. Similar to the acclaimed “NIGHT SHITFT”, “Monkey Stories” is a further development of NTNS: when we move from the texts we created, to a stage production.

JON TOMBRE  is a director educated in Paris and Oslo with more than 60 performing arts productions. His main focus is contemporary theatre, he has staged a wide range of international and Norwegian contemporary writers as Jon Foss, Sam Sheppard, David Harrower, the Presnyakov brothers and Günter Grass . His performances are dedicated to experimentation and exploration of the fine boarders between theater, dance, visual arts and music. His work consists in large scale of collaboration with artists from hiphop, new circus, indigenous cultures as Maya and Sapmi, as well as dancers, writers, jazz musicians and installation artists. Jon Tombre has carved a niche for himself in the world of explorative theatre. He has several times been nominated to the Norwegian Hedda Prize and in 2014 and 2016 he was acclaimed with the Critics prize of Norway.

Free Theatre Alliance is an independent organization founded by 4 independent theater practitioners (Su Xiaogang, Sun Yangyang, Diao Wei, Liu Zheng) in April 2016. The group aims to diversify the theatrical works by offering a platform for experimental and independent theater works, including or crossing multiple art forms.
As partners, FTA and Ibsen International share the same artistic vision and practices to pave the way for collaborations between the two.One of the main point of the joint press-release was the launch of the 123 Theatre Project, a platform to promote independent performers and theater artists. For three days a week (Monday to Wednesday), Qinglan Theater will be available to independent companies and artists completely for free, and the whole amount of box-office revenues will be given to the invited company. This initiative is thought as an alternative support platform for fringe artists who, without any institutional support, struggle to find space and means to continue their artistic research.

Photos from LØPERJENTEN rekonstruert (RUNNING GIRL – reconstructed) created by Jon Tombre, premiere October 21 Den Nationale Scenen – Bergen, Norway

PREMIERE
23 JULY 2016, 14:30 – 24 JULY 2016, 19:30. Gulou West Theatre, Beijing
7th Nanluoguxiang Performing Arts Festival 2016

239 December 2017, 19:30-10 December 2017, 14:00. 1933 Micro Theatre
13th Shanghai International Theatre Festival

“About My Parents and Their Child” is a documentary-theater work about the relationship between parents and children in China, its dynamics, tensions, mutual expectations. Commissioned by Ibsen International, the project departs from interviews made in five cities across China with young people (aging 21-38) and their parents. The project attempts, through an in-depth dialogue with parents and children, to find out the changes underwent by the institution of family throughout the span of 2 generations. How are “family values” changing, and why? Is having a child still the ultimate life-fulfilling purpose? How is modernization changing Chinese society, and what’s the residual influence of tradition?

Creative Team

Director: Matthias Jochmann
Performers: Zou Xueping, Wang Hailin, Hio Meilou, Zhang Jiahuai, Zhu Sujie
Director Assistant: Liu Xuemeng
Dramaturge: Vilma Štritof
Video Interview: Fan Popo，Zou Xueping
Light Design: Su Peng, Dong Zhaomeng, He Yiyi, Zhang Chi
Producer: Fabrizio Massini
Executive Producer: Jennifer Zhang

Photographer: Zhang Bin, Trixie Wang, Lu Shiya

Commissioned by Ibsen International as part of Ibsen in China 2016
Co-Produced by: Goethe-Institut China, Nanluoguxiang Performing Arts Festival, Shanghai International Theatre Festival 

Director’s Note:

While working on previous projects in China I noticed, that many young people have relationships to their parents that I am not used to at all, there seems to be a huge gap, caused by many different issues. As I share the age of young people, that are now expected to start having their own family, I felt a big sympathy for them, though I do not have to face these specific expectations myself.

But then I started wondering about the parents, because it seems like none will ever ask them for their background, for their history. The generation of people, that have been born in China in the 1960s, have been through tremendous changes; they are the ones, that know what China was like before the opening up, their lives got set upside-down again and again.

I aim to open the discourse about both the relationship of parents and children, but also the influence of national development onto family structures. In how far is the family microcosm a metaphor for a national macrocosm and vice versa?

The Children Say：

 “ How to love other people in a good way is a skill too. But I don’t have this skill, like, when I want to express my love to my parents, it is difficult for me to find ways to express that, or it fees awkward for me to do so.”

By Lu Shiya, 2017

“Especially when (parents) take sides against their children, I think it is not a very smart move. In fact, these kind of opposition will not affect children’s decision, it can only destroy our relationship.”

By Lu Shiya, 2017

“If you are always alone, how to say, may be you will feel lonely, especially when you are getting older, the feeling of loneliness is also stronger. So it is necessary to find a shelter (family) where you can feel protected from rains and winds from outside. I feel it is difficult, dont’ know, may be that is all for now. ”

By Lu Shiya, 2017

The Audience Say：

The actors’ bodies and the narration really touched me. They are really different from each other, so everyone can see their countless differences reflected on the stage, which is really beautiful. @WANG ANNI

By Zhang Bin, 2016

So, are we just trapped into something coming from our hearts? When will we break this self-limitation, what is the obstacle between our parents and us? Is the pain something rooted in our minds? Thus, accepting the limitation given by the parents is to accept oneself. Accepting yourself, that is, to accept the parents. @XIAORAN

By Zhang Bin, 2016

This is the most physical Documentary Theatre I’ve seen, the body is able to display“multiple voices” at once, four people and their stories . Sometimes is the film that leads the topic, sometimes it is the stage, but all the time I was focused. @MUTOU

By Zhang Bin, 2016

Sexual orientation, the natural disposition of men to express their appetites makes gay people rebel more straightforward to a family which doesn’t understand them. The red socks on the performer’s head, with a series of exaggerated gestures explain this attempted rebellion very clear. And parents’ disbelief,frustration, and concern shown in the documentary are very moving. @ZHUBIN

By Tim Haukenes, 2017

The Structure within the family is still based on division: the father and mother, we and our fathers, we and our mothers. We use it to maintain the relationship, whether calm or intense, we are willing to let our child go, throw them out, let the parents become themselves, or their own children, or their own parents.@FANCHEN

By Zhang Bin, 2016

“Many of today’s modern dance works always want to express the most intense emotions and skills in the shortest possible time. Yang Zhen’s work In the Field of Hope provide a serene moment for the audience to think. ”
Willy Tsao, Artistic Director Guangdong Dance Festival

Beijing Nanluoguxiang Theatre Festival 2016
New Talent Section

Time and Date: July 18-19, 19:30
Location: Gulou West Theatre

Produced by: Yang Zhen
Presented by: Ibsen International

In the Field of Hope is the second part of the series of works of Yang Zhen’s “Revolution Game”, his reflection on the current social progress, people’s life styles and the issue of art. Through a large number of historical symbols, the performance illustrates a metaphor of life in contemporary times. The play explores the power play among people, and describes the young generations’ idealism and hope.

In November 2015, “In the Field of Hope” premiered at Guangdong Modern Dance Festival, and attracted interest among audience and fellow dancers. As an example of bold experimentalism, and an interesting attempt to redefine the borders of contemporary dance, Ibsen International is proud to support the participation of “In the Field of Hope” at the Nanluoguxiang International Theatre Festival 2016.

To better understand the artistic progress of choreographer Yang Zhen, we decided to re-post excerpts from an article by GDF’s Artistic Director Willy Tsao.

YANG ZHEN, In the Field of Hope

Most Chinese audience hold a myth that the modern dance in China hardly excel European or American modern dance; some dancers even go abroad to study, and came back with a “shining aura” as a saint dancer. But as China’s national strength growing, the young dancers have more and more opportunities to express themselves as to stage new creative productions and works in the local community, which in a way attracts many foreign audiences.

The 12-year- “the Guangdong Modern Dance Festival” and 8-year-Beijing Dance Festival now have become the benchmark for high-level modern dance in China. And gradually international dancing circle pays special attention on these two events mainly due to that these two parts can browse local Chinese modern choreographer’s works, from which they can touch the young choreographers’ thinking and imagination. A new phenomenon appears that when some Chinese people still are indulging themselves in European dancing aura without a clear discovery that the local dance however in the eyes of foreign visitors, has become more mature and developed.

Yang Zhen graduated from Choreographer Major of Minzu University of China. He is comprehensive Minzu dancer, but he shows great interest in choreographing with innovations. He caught my attention first at the period before his graduation that his small piece of work staged in “Beijing Youth Dance Fortnight Exhibition” called “Alicia”. In the following year, in Beijing Dance Festival, Youth dance Exhibition Unit, he staged a fantastic dancing production called Boldly Go Forward. I brought this production to last year’s “Guangdong Modern Dance Festival”, and it received numerous applause from international guests, and finally, this work were invited to perform in 14th International Festival of Contemporary Dance, Munich, Germany, and received responses enthusiastically. It can be said Yang Zhen just debut one year, but has been involved in the international dance circles.

I like the dancing rhythm of Yang Zhen’s work, which holds a rare serene atmosphere. Many of today’s modern dance creations always want to express the most intensive emotion and skills in the shortest possible time, however, Yang Zhen’s work In the Field of Hope provide a serene moment for the audience to think. Taking In the field of Hope as an example that six dancers wearing thin colored tights, but covered with a thick army coat. The clothing alone will generate strong dramatic atmosphere and exudes a rebellious taste. Young took advantage of a lot of old Chinese songs such as “A River”, “In the Field of Hope”, “Lake Baikal”, etc., which is easily to bring back memories of an era to the audience, simultaneously, the actors allows a solidification in a weird state on stage, which lighten the older generation in the past and has been romanticized spirit that connects today’s younger generations’ lost silence, thus producing a misfits, but with a strong visual and auditory impact.

After watching Yang Zhen’s work, many people inevitably ask a question: how could a work full of history and solemn sense of meditation coming from a 90s generation, who is such a sentimental and shy young man? I was not a little surprised, because modern dance offers a wonderful space for people who do not want to follow the crowd and struggle to live oneself. Among numerous young people, Yang Zhen seems as a more “weird” talent, who will deeply reflect on the relationship between states, society and individuals, in the means of dance. Even many artists choose to avoid political issues, which are obviously dangerous and exciting at the same time, he is boldly digging the meaning of it through dance. I believe that Yang Zhen belongs to a definitely rare “species” which we need to take good care of!

Willy Tsao Founder and Artistic Director of City Contemporary Dance Company (Hong Kong), Beijing Dance / LDTX, as well as Managing Director of Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Willy Tsao is one of the leading figure of modern and contemporary dance in China.

JON FOSSE AND CHINA

Volume Ⅰ of Jon Fosse’s collected plays Someone is Going to Come, published in 2014, was a great success and created interest in theatre circles in the Chinese speaking world. On April 23, Volume Ⅱ- Dream of Autumn has been released in Chinese, and Volume Ⅲ is on its way.

This is the last achievement of the program ‘Fosse in China’, launched by Ibsen International in 2010, for the translation, circulation and production of Jon Fosse’s dramatic works in China. Since its launch, the program included the translation of 8 plays, several workshop in collaboration with Shanghai Theatre Academy, three local productions by Shanghai’s SDAC and Fujian’s People Theatre’s Company, and the international festival Jon Fosse’s Blossoms.

Within a few years’ time, the appearance of Fosse’s works on the Chinese stage has
become somewhat of a phenomenon. The sales’ of volume I have surpassed any expectation. Theatre companies, from Beijing to Hong Kong, have organized activities and events dedicated to the playwright. The press, from Oriental Morning Post to the English language Global Times dedicated in-depth reviews and monographic articles (see Translation of Jon Fosse play mesmerizes readers of China). And Chinese academics started to follow with close interest Fosse’s work too.

To open a wider discussion around Fosse’s dramatic work, we publish (below in this page) an essay by prof. Guo Chenzi about the staging of Fosse in China.

BOOK LAUNCH OF VOLUME 2

Royal Norwegian Consulate General’s Consul General, Øyvind Stokke,  delivered an opening speech. After reading an excerpt in Norwegian to let the audience hear the original sound of Fosse’s writing, Mr. Stokke addressed the audience: “In my view there is a unique mood or atmosphere in his works, a rhythm. Many things are not expressed, by words I mean, and some things are often repeated. Fosse creates a line or space in his plays- and so on the stage- that is sometimes tense or worrying, but there is also movement in the room, people brought together, episodes from the past brought to light. Quietness and nature, distance and relations between human beings, Jon Fosse has created a room on his own, and for his works in the world, and a room for us, the readers. And now, in China, the room expands.”

Ibsen International’s Artistic Director, Fabrizio Massini, addressed Fosse’s influence and international success. “By drying out the language and clearing the script of references, he forced the actors and the spectators to dig deeper. Fosse asks an effort of us, to understand what his characters are troubled by, what they are fighting with, what are their hopes. The universal questions of mortality, of love, of pain, are sketched very subtly, like silhouettes that our imagination and our empathy need to fill out… This book launch is a perfect example of the intercultural value of Fosse’s writing, and of the fantastic time of global cultural exchange we are living in. As an Italian theatre practitioner, who was touched watching Fosse’s plays in Italy in 15 years ago, to give my contribution to promote his work in China is a great honor.”

The translator, Lulu Zou, professor at Shanghai Theatre Academy, and researcher of western theatre and literature, told about her 10-years-long efforts to the translation of. Jon Fosse’s works. In her opinion, translation work for her resembles an extremely deep exchange with the author. Quoting the song writer Leonard Cohen, although Fosse’s works tackle the universal fragility and desperation shared by human beings there is a light coming out of the cracks. It is this light, this hope and strength which she likes to share with the Chinese readers.

In the end,  V+ Theatre read an excerpt  from the play Dream of Autumn.

Fosse has come

by Guo Chenzi

Fosse has come. It was not the first time for Fosse to come to China. [The magazines] Dramatic Arts and Shanghai Theatre published the translations of “Someone is going to come”and “A Summer’s Day”. Shanghai Theater Academy and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center also staged productions of “Someone is going to come” and “The Name”. However, this time Fosse has arrived in a different fashion at the Shanghai International Contemporary Theatre Festival, hosted by Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, with five theatre groups from different countries staging a different repertoire from Fosse, like a retrospective in a film festival or a monographic review.

Fosse has come. It doesn’t seem the Fosse based in Bergen, but a playwright forged by countless generations, genres and styles of European play writing, although his plays are so subtle, even flat. His recognition and definition as a successor of Ibsen, Pinter and Beckett is widely accepted, and indeed appropriate. Ibsen? Certainly so, as can be observed in “Death Variations” performed by the Indian Surnai Theatre Group from Mumbai. The daughter’s suicide makes it hard for the couple to keep living. As a young couple, their love was a scorching flame that not even their parents’ opposition could stop from burning, nor could poverty stop them from marrying and have a child. However, as the routine infiltrates their life, the intensity of their relationship slowly diminishes. The passion retreats, followed by the husband’s infidelity, then separation, and divorce.Their daughter ends up being a misfit, and finally chooses to end her own life. The focus on society, family and gender relations are a little Ibsenian. And sois the image of the handsome and sweet man, working as object of desire for the daughter, as well as a symbol of death. Let us not forget that Ibsen wroteseveral plays coloured with the hues of symbolism.

The silhouettes of Beckett and Pinter are more apparent. Fo rinstance, in “I am the wind” brought by Intercity Festival (Italy). Two men decide to sail on the sea. One man insisted to sail into the vast unknown of the ocean, while the other falls prey to fear. One throws himself in the water with excitement, the other is taken by terror and looses his way. Are they variations of Vladimir and Estragon? Yes and no. The musicality of Italian language gives rhythm and movement to the script. There is a similar linguistic flavour in the continuous questions and repetition that remind of Beckett, but in comparison with “Waiting for Godot”, the object and the nature of the investigation are different. They do not shoulder the burden of philosophical propositions, but face life more directly. From Pinter, Fosse borrows the rich subtext. Like a French chef, who not only masters the recipe and the ingredients but also the artistry of matching the cutlery, the food is placed on the plate, but it is within the large white background of the table that the meaning is constructed. In “A Summer’s Day” by Kamal Theatre from Tatarstan, Russia, the husband decides to set sail. The wife is restless and senses the subtle cracks wrecking their relationship. In her recollection of the old days, several years later, we find Pinter-style repetitions of daily language. Daily enough, subtle enough, enough to resemble the Pinter-style “hidden menace”. Did the husband have an affair with the wife’s friend? Yes and no, just like in Pinter’s “Old Times”.

Fosse’s fascination with the ocean brings a sense of loneliness; it is regarded like fate, like a symbol of an indomitable and unpredictable fate, regarded as the ultimate ownership of happiness. In Fosse’s world, eachperson is a lonely island, looking at each yet apart from each other.

Is Fosse’s work a pastiche? In his plays elements from Ibsen, Beckett, and Pinter interweave. Or, in other terms, all the concerns of modernism such as the solitude, the difficulty to communicate, the collapse of the family entity, the death wish…in Fosse’s work find a new formulation. Compared to Ibsen, Fosse makes a further step from narrative and theatricality; compared to Beckett, he moves away from metaphysics; compared to Pinter, his world is not as vague and ambiguous. The inspiration he gives is that the rules of playwrighting have long changed, Ibsen’s symbolism has been decrypted long ago, and Beckett and Pinter aren’t part of the rebellious avant-garde anylonger, but are now to be considered classics. The tradition of modernist theatre that he picks up did not die after the peak of absurdism, but is transformed into a new legacy, which is enriched by his creation.

Fosse’s arrival to China triggered a new discussion. While venturing into such depths, the discussion is brought back to common sense, about “what does he write about” and “how does he write it”. Regarding the “what”, is the dilemmas of mental hilliness,the anxiety of the soul, the restlessness of life, the answerless journey in search of an answer, the crave to communicate and the difficulty to reach out to each other. It is not on about social topics and it does not dwell on the surface of events. About the “how”, one hundred years of theatrical reform did not come for nothing, and some ossified “golden rules” are entirely abandoned. For instance in “Death Variation” and “A Summer’s Day” almost half of the play is occupied with the memory of the past, like flashbacks in a film. When the audience is presented with a journey into old memories, the past presents itself as a flashback, but the protagonists remain on stage, as witnesses, thus creating an opposite relation between past and present. The protagonist observes the scene, sometimes even intervenes, but hardly manages to change the direction or the ending. In “A Summer’s Day” two French windows divide the front stage from the back. A younger and an older actress stand on opposite sides. When one performs, the other watches through the window, still yet emotionally engaged, unable to communicate, or as if communication would be no use. In “Death Variations” the divorced couple reunites after many years due to the daughter’s suicide. Once again they fight, once again they fall into silence. Their grief may be shared, but facing their beloved’s death together won’t change their relationship. They occupy the right side of the stage, while center stage is another version of the couple, young and deeply in love, sharing their tender feelings for each other. Yet, it is the same couple. How did this change happen? Fosse is not interested in sketching a play where the characters’ emotion drives the plot, instead he displays on the stage how life events happen, without much emphasis. Moreover, the productions cannot escape the poetic and concise language of the text. In “I am the wind”, the whole stage is empty with the only exception being the stage, covered with the fragments of a broken mirror. The physical language of the two actors and the stage effects are reduced to minimum. The audience is left with the only impression of two people standing side by side, moving rhythmically along with the waves of the ocean. That is enough. The empty space resembles the sea, and emptiness is expectancy in theatre. It is another language. The empty space emphasizes the actors’ body language and rhythm, thus the whole production acquires musicality.

In these times, when the contemporary Chinese theatre scene doesn’t often display signs of postmodernity, Fosse and many foreign directors have suffered similar controversies. Which demonstrates that we haven’t passedthe gate of modernism yet. Compared to other adapted productions by Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre such as Yasmina Reza’s“Art” and “God of Carnage”，David Greig’s “Midsummer”, David Mamet’s “Oleanna”, Patrick Marber’s “Closer”, Sarah Kane’s “4.48 PSYCHOSIS” and Fosse’s “The Name”, compared to these modern playwrights’ works, should the [Chinese] playwrights stop at TV-series-inspired logic and style?

Fosse has come. Has he come for nothing? I hope not.

Originally published in SHANGHAI Theatre, 2015, issue 1
Reprinted in Guo Chenzi’s collected essays “The Curtain Draws Open – Theatre Review” (Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2015).
English translation by: FM, CZ

NEW TEXT, NEW STAGE II is a workshop for new writing focusing on contemporary world’s most crucial subject: migration. For 9 months, 30 artists from all over the world have attended 3 intense workshops. The program concluded with the workshop in Guangzhou, March 2016, with eight newly written original plays as the result.

Building on the previous sessions in Beijing (July 2015) and Shanghai (November 2015), the Guangzhou workshop saw all eight plays carefully read, discussed, rehearsed and staged (in short excerpts) by 3 directors from Norway, Germany and Hong Kong and a group of local actors.

The scope is wide. The 8 plays, written by playwrights from different continents and backgrounds, range from a conversation between an African kidnapper and a Canadian volunteer to a Russian man gone missing after WW II, from a Eastern-European migrant helping an upper-class Norwegian lady to relocate to an ambitious Chinese actress chasing fame in New York. All the plays explore the theme of migration, love and loss, hope and despair, the weight of personal choices and unexpected meetings.

The 3rd workshop Guangzhou is not the end of the journey. In the following months, theaters in both China and overseas have expressed interest in producing the eight scripts. Ibsen International is working to organize the first “New Text – New Stage Festival” in China in 2017. Our ultimate goal is to portray the conflicts and opportunities migration imposes on humanity, to be shown, seen, and discussed openly all over the world.

Guangdong TV NEWS Report:

1. FINAL ROUND OF FEEDBACK

Each of the playwrights were given a 2-hour private feedback session with 2 dramaturges to discuss ideas of further development for the texts. The session also had a practical aspect in giving input on how to make the scripts ready for real-world production. In the presence of the dramaturges and the other authors each playwright got the chance to have an open reading of their plays, and receive feedback and suggestions from their global peers.

2. FROM PAGE TO STAGE: performance of short excerpts

In the presence of the playwrights, professional directors and actors rehearsed each of the developed excerpts for 5-hour sessions. This approach opens for a unique opportunity for the authors and directors to communicate and interact directly in the creative process. To the playwrights this is a unique opportunity to see their staged in a professional setting. To the directors and actors this opens a rare opportunity to work directly with the author, and get a deeper understanding of the texts and their underlying intentions.

The public performance at the end of the workshop was a significant event in the theater community of Guangzhou, all tickets were booked within days. At the after-show talk, a young woman shared her grandma’s tragic migration story with the historical context of China 30 years ago. The leader of a local theatre group noted that the physical language employed in “Noise” (see below) was the best depiction of the mentality of Chinese parents she had seen.

 3. FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL: getting ready to production

The ultimate goal of New text New Stage II is to produce all the 8 plays created through the project for a 2017  theatre festival  in China. Through the festival, we also aim to create an international network for the promotion of global contemporary writing. Our ultimate goal is to portray the conflicts and opportunities migration imposes on humanity, to be shown, seen, and discussed openly all over the world.

PARTICIPANTS:

Artsistic and Managing Director:
Inger Buresund

Dramaturges:
Hege Randi Tørressen
Fabrizio Massini
Vilma Štritof
Yngvar Julin

Playwrights:

Kim Davies (United States)
Sombel Gaffarova (Tartarstan/Russia)
Liv Heløe (Norway)
Gu Lei (China)
Hanne Ørstavik (Norway)
Letizia Russo (Italy)
Mike van Graan(South Africa)
Zhu Yi (China)

Directors:
Fung Wai Hang (Hong Kong,PRC)
Matthias Jochmann(Germany)
Jon Tombre (Norway)

Project coordinator:

Jennifer Zhang

Media coordinator:

May Zhang

Interpreters:

Zhang Jingjing/Song Ruifeng

 THE PLAYS

I am a dog

Liv Heløe (Norway)

A young man grows up in a small town. His mother is hoping for him to establish there. But the young man is drawn against the big city. He buys a puppy to his mother, packs his bags and leaves.

The big city has everything he can dream about; excitement and unpredictability. But the price is high. His naivety is exploited. To survive he starts to exploit others.

When he one day wants to leave, he is hurt and broke. He remains in the city, lives from hand to mouth among the poor and homeless.

When he, after many years returns, his hometown is transformed. Old houses are replaced by new, the butcher´s has become a shopping mall. His mother´s dog is growling and he realizes that he no longer belongs.

He leaves his hometown for the second time – not for the big city, but to find himself.

My sister’s Tree

Hanne Ørstavik (Norway)

“My Sister’s tree” takes place in an empty apartment. A woman in her early 50’ies is moving in and a young refugee, a man, is carrying the last boxes into her new place. The story evolves in these empty rooms – intertwining the characters and their inner life – in conflict and interaction with what happens in the apartment and the realities of the outside world, .

What does it mean to belong?
Is it possible to come “home” in a situation of homelessness?

“My Sister’s tree” is a play about longing, loss and love.

No Name

Letizia Russo (Italy)

 “No Name” is set up with 12 characters played by 4 actors set up with the backdrop of a Southern Europe in a state of social, economical and political crisis.

The characters are on one side migrant of first and second generation but also native citizens. Together the characters are protagonists of 4 different stories and the 4 stories intersect at crucial crossroads in the narrations. Each of the characters values, goals, and actual survival is challenged, provoked or put at risk through unplanned meetings with other human beings.

In the excerpt presented at the performance, a  slightly racists pensioner and widower talks to the spirit of his deceased wife and finally admits to himself that he is unexpectedly falling in love with a migrant woman.

When Swallows Cry

Mike van Graan (South Africa)

“When swallows cry” is a trilogy of interwoven playlets about migration from and to Africa.  Through topical, contemporary stories, the trilogy explores global mobility and the structural challenges and violence  inherent in migration, particularly  from poorer to wealthier regions.

A Canadian teacher is captured and held for ransom in a West African country.  US immigration officials interrogate a Somalian visitor with a valid visa.  Zimbabwean stowaways are held in a detention centre in Australia.  Each of the three pieces places the characters in a similar situation, but allows for the interrogation of power relations and human interaction through the choices that the characters make.

A Deal

Zhu Yi (China)

By 2015, Chinese families for the first time represented the largest group of overseas home buyers in the United States. Buyers from China spend $831,800 on a home on average, that is more than three times as much as an average American family spends. (New York Times)

Who are these people?
Why would they buy a property so far away from home?
How do the Americans see them?

“A Deal ” is a dark comedy that features a new upper-middle-class Chinese family’s home buying journey in New York. Greed, betrayal, burning ambition, and broken heart. The play draws a micro picture of the ideological conflicts between the East and the West by following a little stream of the global cash flow. It takes place in Oct 2015 – Jan 2016, when the USD/CNY exchange rate climbs from 6.31 to 6.59.

Evolution

Gu Lei (China) 

People, like animals and aquatic plants, migrate to better places to improve their lives. The best places are in demand, and the fight to occupy those most fruitful areas is referred to as the survival of the fittest, this is what is meant by evolution. “Evolution” is about the survival of the fittest in the struggle between hope and disappointment.

The driver in the play is of the opinion that the good places to live should have residential restrictions, but at the same time he thinks that it is stupid for anyone to outright accept such restrictions.

As an example: In some cities, people fake their addresses to let their children get into “good” schools. The background of the children’s families will not meet the socio-economical conditions set by the uptown schools, thus the families have to pretend they live in “good” neighbourhoods to meet the schools expectations. This is not a  big problem for the parents, but can cause major issues for their children.

The Daughter

Kim Davies (United States)

The Daughter can’t bear to tell her parents what a failure she has made of her life in the big city, so she starts inventing stories about her fancy job and loving boyfriend.  The lies get more and more complicated as she struggles to save face and make her parents happy.  But then her mother decides to visit.  The Daughter hires a mysterious Agency to help make her web of lies come true—for just long enough to prevent her mother from discovering the truth.

Two Lives of My Grandpa

Sombel Gaffarova (Tartarstan/Russia)

“Clock fixer” Nakip had a good job, a loving girlfriend and a perfect life until he is forced to work in a Nazi concentration camp. Fearing the punishment he might face going home, he migrates to Canada.  The play shows his present life intersected with flashbacks to his life story.

The play was inspired by the story of the author’s grandmothers brother, who was a soldier during the Second World War and died in a battle, but was later declared a missing person in 1942.

The play is a fantasy of what could have happened to him, the problems he might have faced if fleeing and adapting to a new motherland, as well as expressing gratitude to the people defending their fatherland.