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Post by Jan on Mar 6, 2019 9:14:23 GMT
This is excellent. It is a co-production with the Norwegian Ibsen Company using a mix of UK and Norwegian actors and performed in a mix of the languages. At its core is a very good straightforward production of the play directed somewhat in the European manner. However the mix of languages is handled in a very clever way. An adjustment to the text sets it up as an English family who have moved to Norway some years before. Amongst themselves they speak English. The locals speak Norwegian (surtitled) amongst themselves but in their interactions both sides switch between English and Norwegian depending somewhat on the subject matter. This is how it works in the real world and it seems entirely natural.
A pity no mainstream critics seem to have been to see it but the theatre looked almost full anyway.
This approach might be a useful template for less ambitious theatres (NT, RSC) to finally start building some links with European companies.
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Post by crowblack on Mar 6, 2019 10:32:23 GMT
I'm sad to miss this - I had booked early in the run but as there were no matinees it involved staying over which at the last minute I couldn't do. The Printroom is a great, intimate theatre that for some reason seems to be off the critical radar: one of the first things I saw when getting back into theatregoing was a double bill of Genet's rarely-performed Deathwatch and new David Rudkin pieces performed by Toby Jones, Juliet Stephenson and musicians, plus a talk with Rudkin - a truly wonderful evening in he theatre and for around £30, including playtext! Also, the bar is gorgeous. |
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Post by altamont on Mar 6, 2019 10:57:12 GMT
My first visit to the Print Room - and what a treat. I agree that the use of both Norwegian and English worked very well and in particular thought Pia Tjelta was spectacularly good as Ellida.
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Post by Jan on Mar 6, 2019 11:17:59 GMT
My first visit to the Print Room - and what a treat. I agree that the use of both Norwegian and English worked very well and in particular thought Pia Tjelta was spectacularly good as Ellida. The mixed nationality casting also added the thought that part of the issue between the English husband (and daughters) and the Norwegian second wife (and stepmother) was due partly to obvious cultural differences. Also the implication that the teacher Arnholm had been particularly important to the daughters because he had taught them Norwegian. There were lots of good insights. |
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Post by Polly1 on Mar 6, 2019 11:20:55 GMT
Sad that this has only just come on my radar - it finishes on Sat and I can't get there this week. Never been to the Print Room either and just seen how easy it would be for me to get to. Will keep a better eye out in future.
PS. Welcome back Jan Brock!
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Post by NeilVHughes on Mar 6, 2019 11:31:34 GMT
Talked me into it, booked for tomorrow night, only a couple of tickets left, despite little or no media coverage it appears to have sold quite well.
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Post by crowblack on Mar 6, 2019 11:31:54 GMT
Will keep a better eye out in future. They also do one-off poetry readings with some fantastic names - sadly for me mostly on Sundays which is near-impossible for travel. It's never that expensive, and for some plays they do an even cheaper Wednesday (I think) for one day in the run. |
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Post by Jan on Mar 6, 2019 11:45:22 GMT
Talked me into it, booked for tomorrow night, only a couple of tickets left, despite little or no media coverage it appears to have sold quite well. To be honest I’ve never seen that auditorium so full. Word of mouth ? Just in passing for anyone interested there is a very good exhibition by a Norwegian painter on at Dulwich Picture Gallery currently too. There, I’ve done the Norwegian Embassy Cultural Attache’s job for them. www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2019/february/harald-sohlberg-painting-norway/ |
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Post by altamont on Mar 6, 2019 11:56:11 GMT
Indeed - I went to Dulwich earlier in the day for a day of Norwegian culture
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Post by crowblack on Mar 6, 2019 12:03:42 GMT
There was a Guardian feature on the company a few weeks ago which may account for it. |
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Post by ruperto on Mar 6, 2019 14:29:42 GMT
Yes, adding my two penn'orth, I saw this last week and thought it was really excellent - I totally agree with Dr Jan Brock's assessment.
I, too, was surprised that this seems to have slipped under the radar a bit, particularly bearing in mind the great cast, including TV Bafta best actress winner Molly Windsor as Hilde Wangel and the always reliable Adrian Rawlins. I wasn't familiar with Pia Tjelta, who plays Ellida, but she's brilliant in this - really charismatic and hard to take your eyes off.
It was my first visit to the Print Room - what a great venue! And the bar was a thing of wonder - lots of dark corners and full of weird old nick-nacks and other stuff. I'll definitely be returning...
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Post by NeilVHughes on Mar 6, 2019 15:00:21 GMT
what a great venue! And the bar was a thing of wonder - lots of dark corners and full of weird old nick-nacks and other stuff. Agree, a venue with a lot of character. After seeing so many excellent productions at the Print Room last year, should have been a no-brainier and fortunate now to get a ticket. |
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Post by crowblack on Mar 6, 2019 16:37:48 GMT
I do wish, with plays that only have one performance a day, they'd do a Saturday matinee rather than evening to give those of us who have to travel a chance. The Maggie Smith play at the Bridge is a similar situation so probably not do-able for me.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Mar 7, 2019 23:15:23 GMT
Excellent production, Ellida’s journey is perfectly traversed by Pia Tjelta as she sheds the ghosts of loves past and finally finds a way to be herself.
Thanks Dr Jan Brock, cannot imagine the play being staged any better.
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Post by Jan on Mar 8, 2019 7:46:08 GMT
Excellent production, Ellida’s journey is perfectly traversed by Pia Tjelta as she sheds the ghosts of loves past and finally finds a way to be herself. Thanks Dr Jan Brock, cannot imagine the play being staged any better. Glad you liked it. Thought I'd give it a push because the likes of Billington surprisingly hadn't. Now let me be hyper-critical. Kare Conradi plays Arnholm (the teacher) in this. He is the Artistic Director and driving force behind the Norwegian Ibsen Company so all credit to him for that. Plus his English is perfect. But in my view he's a little bit miscast in that role. For a start they keep referring to him losing his hair but in fact he's got Greg Doran-style flowing locks. Secondly he's naturally attractive and charismatic. You see another facet of the play if the teacher is played as a far more seedy and ambiguous figure, as he was (played by Tim McInnerny) in Trevor Nunn's absolutely brilliant Almeida production. But, a small point only, just an alternative interpretation. Kare Conradi and Pia Tjelta played the leads in Little Eyolf at this venue a year or so ago in an all-Norwegian production - sorry now that I missed that. |
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