Time: November 10-12, 2014

Location: Xinghai PA Garden, Ersha Island

Concept: A Dance Tribute To The Art Of Sports

Performers: Mikkel Are Olsenlund/Jan Nicolai Wesnes

Company:  Jo Strømgren Kompanis

Collaboration: Ibsen International and Ibsen in China

Description

This co-production is a shining example of international cooperation (…) at just an hour long, it covers the emotional ground of a three-hour opera (…) proves that artistic collaboration  can unite nations more effectively  than years of diplomacy.

OperaNow – December 2015

World Premiere: 30-31 October 2014, Tianjin Grand Threatre, Tianjin
Norway Tour: 28 October, Bodø; 30 October, Tromsø; 3 October, Trondheim.

Duration: 80 min in one act

Composer: Du Wei Librettist: Jon Fosse Conductor: Terje Mikkelsen Director: Victoria Meirik Multimedia Design: Feng Jianzhou, Zhang Lin Stage Design: Gao Guangjian Costume Design: Adriana Braga Peretzki Light Design: Ellen Ruge Producers: Katharina Jakhelln Semb (The Arctic Opera),  Inger Buresund (Ibsen International) Executive Producer: Fabrizio Massini Concept: Katharina Jakhelln Semb and Inger Buresund

CAST

Old Woman (Mezzo) – Angelica Voje Middle Woman (Soprano) – Yao Hong Young Woman (Soprano) – Linda Nteleza Man (Baritone) – Håkan Ekenäs Shadow (Tenor) – Christopher Lemmings

Commissioned and produced by the Arctic Opera and Ibsen International. Project in collaboration with AdOpera! and Tianjin Grand Theatre.

Introduction

Nora is an original, contemporary opera that premiered in Tianjin, China, in October 2014. The music, composed by award-winning female composer Du Wei, is a compelling piece with a strong accent on feminine creativity. The libretto is an adaptation of “Too Late” by internationally acclaimed playwright Jon Fosse.

Nora, as well as Fosse’s Too Late, builds on the iconic character of Ibsen’s masterpiece A Doll’s House, a play that shocked the theatregoers all over the world in 1879 _ including China. From the early 20th century on, Ibsen’s heroines became a reference point for the construction of the female and feminist discourse in China. And, above them all, A Doll’s House‘s Nora.

As a contemporary counterpoint to Nora, the Older Woman in Too late looks back on her life with a series of questions. Was the choice of leaving my children and husband in order to fulfil myself as a human being the right one? Did my life turn out the way i wanted and had planned for? She is in constant dialogue with her younger self, her former husband and (in dreamlike flash-forwards) also with his young new wife…the libretto has all the ingredients of a good drama.

Nora has been produced in China between Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin by an international team composed of artists and members from 8 countries.

Pictures from the Premiere

Pictures from the Norwegian Tour

Stormen, Bodø

Premiere: 11th-12th October 2014

Location: Penghao threatre, Beijing

Concept/production:Phoenix Conceptual Theater:

Henriette Blakstad and Mariann Rostad

Director/Choreography/Producer/

Costume Design/:Henriette Blakstad

Set Design/Text:Mariann Rostad

Sound Design:Jiang Keyu

Light Design:Chen Er dong

On stage:Jiang Keyu  (Hedda) Ingunn Beate Oyen  (Hedda, Brack)  Melissa Coleman-Reed  (Hedda, Tesman)

Supported by:Ibsen International,  part of Ibsen in China 2014

About The phenomenon : “Hedda Gabler”

The piece is a research of Henrik Ibsens Hedda Gabler from 1890, where we are looking at the character Hedda as a phenomenon through time, through three different continents: Asia, America and Europe, and with three women on stage.

The phenomenon: Hedda Gabler is a new written piece by Phoenix Conceptual Theater: Hedda Gabler as a human being without concerning about sex, culture and time.

Phoenix Conceptual Theater is an international professional theater ensemble founded in 2008 based in Oslo (Norway)/London (UK). The company is directed by Henriette Blakstad and Mariann Rostad. Phoenix CT is a nonprofit, independent devised theater
group. Their concepts are highly visual, based on intense acting and movement-performances. Whatever the “genre”, the work is influenced by the human body.

Their productions include an active use of objects and the visuals.

Everyone incorporated is challenged to take part in developing the piece; Director,

Stage-Artists, Text-Writer, Set-Designer and Sound Designer are all part of several

workshops prior to the premiere.

Theatre has always been an important means of communication and transforms crowds of theatregoers into an audience connected by a shared moment in front of the stage. As a form of communication and as an interpersonal medium of the moment, theatre brings about intellectual challenges for its viewers, turning them into a public that interpret the performance based on their own social and individual experiences.

This is a seminar where we have invited people from media, social studies and theatre to into possible connectionas between the disciplines and reflect on a crucial topic: how to collaborate in communication with each other and society?

Ibsen International has commissioned GHOSTS 2.0 (based on Henrik Ibsen’s play) in an exciting mix of live theatre and live video, directed by the Chinese promising new theatre director Chong Wang together with the Norwegian architect, scenographer and dramaturge Yngvar Julin. The focus is on Osvald (the young son who is returning to China after several years in New York) where he meets his mother, Miss Alving, who sent him away from home so he shouldn’t witness the darker side of his father’s life and personality. When Osvald returns to China he has to come to terms with the truth of a childhood that has been hidden from him.

The seminar has GHOST 2.0 as a backdrop for a relevant dialog between theatre, media and society.

Participants:

Inger Buresund  – Artistic and Managing Director Ibsen International

Dai Jinhua  – Professor, Institute of Comparative Literature and Culture, Peking University

Helge Rønning – Professor, University of Oslo and author

Yngvar Julin  – Architect, scenographer and dramaturge

Bi Xiao  –  PhD, Communication University of China

Huihui Lai   –  Executive Manager, Penghao Theatre and Nanluoguxiang Theatre Festival

Wang Chong  –  Artistic director of Theatre Du Rêve Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental

Organized by – Li Shubo and Fabrizio Massini
Interpreter – Zhang Cui

workshop for directors

Concept: Inger Buresund, Hege Randi Tørressen
Head Dramaturge: Hege Randi Tørressen
Co-dramaturge, Project Manager: Fabrizio Massini
Directors: Victoria Meirik (Norway), Jonas Petersen (Denmark), Zhang Hui (China), Liu Zheng (China)
Actors: Yi Hang, Ruan Sihang, Fang Li, Zhao Hongwei, Ma Zhuo, Han Wenliang, Zhao Xiaolu, Li Bo, Wu Genghua, Yuan Fufu, He Yang, Bai Hua, Wang Yuanqing, Xiao Fuchun
Interpreters: Zhang Cui, Ding Yi

 OVERVIEW:

After one year and two sessions dedicated to the development of original scripts (see SESSION 1 and SESSION 2), the third session of “New Text, New Stage” was focused on the staging of the four texts. Four directors from Norway, Denmark and China have lead a group of 13 Chinese actors during a 5-days-long workshop. At the end of the workshop, the directors presented a mise-en-espace of excerpts from the scripts (15-20 minutes each) during a final event held on May 10th.
This session of “New Text, New Stage” also marks an important step in the collaboration with local organizations and institutions. The workshop was co-produced by the Beijing Writers and Dramatists Association and supported by the Community Center of Dongcheng District, Pioneer Theatre (National Theatre of China) and SETA. The final event, held at the Pioneer Theatre, was attended by over 250 people and followed with interest by local theatre practitioners and theatergoers.

APPROACH AND OBJECTIVES:

The main goal of this session was twofold. On one hand, by assigning the text to a director coming from a different background (Norwegian texts assigned to Chinese directors and vice-versa), we tried to avoid conventional renditions of the script (e.g. based on local stylistic and formal motifs) in order to explore alternative readings and possibilities.  This represented an opportunity for the playwrights to receive valuable feedback on their work and observe their texts from an original perspective. On the other hand, the four mise-en-espace represent a first step towards the development of full-scale productions.

SCRIPTS and DIRECTORS:

“Beijing North” by Liu Yinshi
Director: Jonas Petersen (Denmark)

“Tall Tall Mountains and Strange Birds” by Oda Fiskum
Director: Zhang Hui (China)

“The Weight of Marriage” by Zhao Xun
Director: Victoria Meirik (Norway)

“Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song” by Marco Vitanza
Director: Liu Zheng (China)

PICTURES FROM THE WORKSHOP AND FINAL EVENT:

THE ART IS QUICKER THAN THE EYE?

A conversation on New Media and Theatre

Historically, theatre and performing arts have fulfilled a crucial role: to challenge the audience to look “beyond the visible”. Relying on their skills and technique, performing artists presented a staged reality for the audience to empathize with and reflect upon. By subscribing to a temporary “suspension of disbelief”, the audience would enter a dimension fabricated by the performers and, together with them, look at the world from a different angle.

In recent years, installation art has pushed this concept to unprecedented limits. Through instruments such as motion capture, video mapping, interactive sound technology and others, it is now possible to alter the audience’s perceptions to create a convincing “other” reality _ to “trick” the spectator’s senses leading them into a devised world. What theatre once did through the suspension of disbelief is now achieved by technical means.

Most interestingly, new media have often shown their aesthetical potential at its best precisely in performing arts’ works. However, as it is often the case with a new gimmick, they sometimes end up taking the center stage and turn the performance into little more than a display of technical virtuosity.

Can new media open up new horizons for theatre? Or do they shrink its scope? Do new media change the relationship between performer and spectator? Or do they push the audience back to the position of passive recipient? In this open conversation new media and theatre artists from China and abroad join together to explore these and other questions.

PARTICIPANTS: 

Karen Lancel (Netherlands) – New Media artist; part of Lancel/Maat
Lulu Li (China) – Designer, performing artist
Fabrizio Massini (Italy/China) – Theatre practitioner; Project Manager, Ibsen International
Alessandro Rolandi (Italy/China) – Multimedia artist, performing artist, curator
Adel Andalibi (Iran/China)  – Visual anthropologist
Anna Kokowska (Poland)  – Designer

Photographer: Ding Yi
Headline picture courtesy of Sifenlv Multimedia Studio

WASTING SPACE FOR ART’S SAKE?

A conversation on Architecture and Scenography

Architecture and scenography share the common goal of manipulating and transforming the space for specific purposes. They also share a similar condition, split between artistic vocation and technical requirements, aiming to combine the aesthetic with the practical.

Under the constraints of engineering safety ad economy of space, bond by the limits of the materials they rely on, both architecture and scenography are primarily expected to perform a task: to be functional and effective. On the other hand, however, they are expected to fulfill other, more elevated functions: to stimulate certain frames of mind; to attract or divert our attention; to make heavy, bulky things look aerial _ and the other way around.

While Philip Johnson’s definition of architecture as “the art of how to waste space” can be applied to scenography too (this is all the more evident while touring a performance), the same can be said about Pamela Howard’s definition of scenography as being concerned with both reception and engagement, “a sensory as well as an intellectual experience, emotional as well as rational”.

In this open conversation between architects and scenographers from China and Europe, we will investigate the points where the two disciplines overlap, exploring the different ways they can inform and inspire each other.

PARTICIPANTS:

Inger Buresund (Norway)– Artistic and Managing Director Ibsen International
Gao Guangjian (China) – Artistic Director of Scenography at National Center of Performing Arts
Max Gerthel (Sweden / China) – Architect and Managing Director IFP
Yngvar Julin (Norway) – Architect and Scenographer
Dou Hui (China) – Scenographer at People’s Liberation Army Opera Troupe
Wang Chong (China) – Director at Théatre du Rêve Expérimental company

Coordinator: Sun Yangyang
Interpreter: Jennifer Cui

Headline picture courtesy of Yngvar Julin

workshop for playwrights

Concept: Inger Buresund, Hege Randi Tørressen
Head Dramaturge: Hege Randi Tørressen
Co-dramaturge, Project Manager, Intrepreter: Fabrizio Massini
Playwrights: Oda Fiskum, Liu Yinshi, Zhao Xun
Actors: Yi Hang, Wang Xiaodi, Li Yuan, Ruan Sihang, Fang Li, Li Jialong
Translators: Zhang Ruonan (EN-ZH), Li Yuan (ZH-EN)

The first session of “New Texts, New Stage” in April 2013 aimed to help the writers exploring a wide range of possible developments for their manuscripts. After the first session, the writers were given three months to develop their texts autonomously.

The second session held in November was designed to support the writers in refining their texts and give it a final form. Unlike the previous session, characterised by an open framework, a consistent daily workload and a fast-paced rhythm, this time the playwrights spent more time discussing and analysing the scripts, both in sessions with fellow writers and individual sessions with the dramaturges only.

OVERVIEW:

During the first plenary session the playwrights updated the whole group on the work done during the past six months. The playwrights explained the problems faced during the creative process and shared with the group their aims and expectations for this session.

DAY 1 – 3:

Morning sessions:
The morning sessions were attended by all the participants (actors, playwrights, dramaturges) and mainly dedicated to the group of 6 actors who read aloud and gave feedback on the texts, one text each day (Day 1 – text 1, Day 2 – text 2, Day 3 – text 3).

In selecting the actors we paid special attention to balance continuity and renewal: the group consisted of both actors who had already taken part to the first session as well as new ones. This way, actors who participated to the first phase of development had a better understanding on the ongoing creative process, and could provide a more comprehensive feedback, while new actors contributed with fresh ideas and an original insight on the scripts.

Afternoon sessions:

The afternoon sessions, attended by the writers and the dramaturges only, were dedicated to a more thorough and analytical discussion of the scripts. The dramaturges made their remarks on different aspects of the text (overall formal structure, cohesion of plot-line, characters development, etc) and discussed the scripts’ current form as well as their possible development.

At the end of the session, each playwright was given an exercise aimed at redressing the problematic aspects of the texts, be it from a formal, logical or stylistic standpoint.

DAY 4 – 6:

During day 4 and 5 each of the three playwrights had an individual session with the two dramaturges where they could discuss the overall creative process from the text’s original form onwards, as well as planning the future development of the script until its final version (to be submitted by February 2014).

Finally, during day 5 the playwrights together with the dramaturges decided a selection of exceprts from the three texts to be showcased in a public reading held at Penghao Theatre on day 6.

NEXT STEPS OF THE PROJECT

By February 2014, the four writers will hand in the final version of their script. Ibsen International will evaluate the scripts and select the ones which will take part to the second phase of the project: a workshop on directing. The texts will be assigned to promising directors from China and Norway whom, under the guidance of international experts, will experiment with the mise-en-scene of the plays. The final objective of the project is the production of full-scale performances to be staged in 2015.

 FEEDBACK FROM THE PARTICIPANTS:

Zhang Qiong, translator for SESSION 1 (English to Chinese):

Zhang Ruonan, translator for SESSION 2 (English to Chinese):

When I worked on the texts，the deepest impression I had on the text is the rhythm the author tackles and grasps. It was not me who “change” the language from English to Chinese, but the two different languages overlapping and working on their own. Through the overlapping dialogues among the characters, the huge image of a story is rich and solid, opening in front of me like a real stage work.  After translating the text, I would like to watch the real stage work with my eyes someday.

Pictures from the workshop: