Jon Fosse

Västanå Teater presents a exciting, poetic and peculiar version of the Poetic Edda. Recorded at Riksteatern during the spring of 2020.

Asle and Gerd met in a small coastal village far west towards the sea. They have a son, and for a time their happiness is perfect. But Asle, the sailor, is restless and is drawn to the sea, while Gerd is left in the village, alone with the child. The distance between them folds, and the question is asked: How much distance can love tolerate?

A man and a woman who loved each other find themselves in a cemetery. He is here to attend the funeral of his grandmother, she let herself be lured by this place without really knowing why. The man's parents, who have come to pour out their reproaches, gravitate around the lovers who desire each other and inevitably get closer. But what did they really experience? And do they still have something to live for?

We follow Henrik Ibsen throughout his life. From early shame over his father's bankruptcy, via bitterness over the then conservative public life, to his older years as a national institution that tourists gathered to watch on their way to their very punctual, daily lunch at the Grand Café in Oslo.

A young couple in Berlin's 'Mitte' district. He, a writer, is lying on the sofa, reading. She can't stand it anymore. In the afternoon the parents come to see the baby. She goes out in the evening. The young man waits. She comes back - but not alone.

70 years after Det Norske Teatret first staged Peer Gynt, Erik Ulfsby and his excellent team have developed a new version, with the role of old Peer congenially filled by Toralv Maurstad. The play’s original chronology has been broken up and fragments of Peer’s life reordered – all observed by an aged spirit who is on the threshold to the other side. Maurstad’s acting is “overwhelmingly great. He carries the role of Peer Gynt on his 92-year-old shoulders. This is pure theatrical magic.”