Little Eyolf (NO)
Little Eyolf – a bombshell of a theatre performance, the likes of which Norway has likely never seen.
Directed by Silvia Rieger
Teater Ibsen’s version of Lille Eyolf breaks with most theatre conventions: Ibsen’s text has been radically culled and new text has been added, from other texts by Ibsen, from Jens Bjørneboe, Nietzsche and Kirkegaard, as well as folktales. Psychological realism has been thrown overboard, and the visual expression is a far cry from Ibsen’s parlours and corsets.
The result is a performance that drills into Ibsen’s darkest of darknesses, but also plays with its own format, and delivers a hard kick in the shins to the established theatre audience. Little Eyolf may be Ibsen’s most mystical, magical, and darkest play. It is a drama about the loss of a child and of one’s own self – and about resurrection.
The production is the work of the German director and actor Silvia Rieger from the prestigious Volksbühne in Berlin. When the play premiered in Skien in spring 2018, the audience reacted so strongly to the staging that the theatre posted the following warning on its website: “Here’s two things we knew when we selected German Silvia Rieger to direct Little Eyolf: 1. The production would be uncompromising. 2. It would be an experience the audience would remember. And that is what we got. This performance is provoking and exhausting, exhilarating and challenging (…) Our Little Eyolf challenges the audience’s perception of theatre – and their perception of Ibsen.”
“The cast is almost frighteningly good in the controlled madness.” -Dag og Tid
Director: Silvia Rieger
Set and Costume Designer: Laurent Pellissier
Actors: Mari Dahl Sæther, Stian Isaksen, Mathilde Alfrida Jakobsen Skarpsno, Patrik Asplund Stenseth and Ola Otnes.