When We Dead Awaken (NO)
Every day at 11:30 Henrik Ibsen left his apartment for his daily stroll down to the Grand Hotel. Now you are invited to join the walk – together with Ibsen himself! NB: The walk starts at the Ibsen Museum.
When Henrik Ibsen returned to Norway in 1891, at age 63, he was world famous. He wrote his final four plays a mere few stone’s throws from the National Theatre, which was completed in 1899, and in the construction of which he was a driving force.
Henrik Ibsen left his apartment in Arbins gate 6 precisely at 11:30 every day. His daily stroll down Karl Johans gate, en route to the Grand Hotel, was a living tourist attraction in the Oslo cityscape. As he went along, the crowds split in front of him, and his image was stealthily captured by the first paparazzis in history. Even today, Ibsen’s daily stroll is well known to most Norwegians. By recreating the walk past the theatre, we are sharing an important part of Oslo’s cultural history.
The audience is invited to relive the walk as part of a performance. From the theatre’s website, you download a sound file to your smartphone. At a given time, you activate the sound file and accompany Ibsen on his stroll, and while wandering, you listen to Ibsen’s thoughts along the way. You may also be instructed to bow and let him pass, or to follow at a polite distance.
Nicolay Lange-Nielsen and Beathe Gillebo.