Winter
Winter, originally uploaded by xt1.
Winter is officially here. The fountain outside National
Theatre is now frozen over.
Add comment November 24th, 2008
Posts filed under 'Personal'
Ibsen x 3
This past month has been a bit of an Ibsen fest, with two plays in the past week alone. But for twice the price of a movie ticket, you get live performance and (if you’re lucky) staging beyond what you remember from your school trips to the theatre.
Rosmersholm
This was a modern, stylized performance of the play. Subdued lighting and a fog machine replaced props or the vast black stage. Rosmersholm is a story about convictions and the perceptions of society. Rosmer’s beliefs are affected by his friends (radical and conservative) and by what is published in the local paper. Tricks, insidious lies, insanity and suicide ensue - as only Scandinavians know how.
The text has the doomed lovers jumping into the foaming waters together, but the director injects doubt: Rebecca is full of conviction, and leaves to jump in, but Rosmer - who has vaccilated and questioned his own beliefs all through the play - does not follow her to death before the curtain falls.
An Enemy of the People
Again a very stylized and minimalist production. The stage is barren - locations are created using lights and shadow. While Rosmersholm was very traditional, An Enemy of the People played the form against the content.
It put on the form of a slapstick comedy, complete with spit-takes and line dancing on the serious matter of public health and the question of personal integrity. The slapstick dominated the first act, where the doctor’s life is happy and everyone was dancing cheerfully.
Towards the end, when society, the elites, his brother, everyone he thought he could count on has rejected him, the lighting rig is lowered, closer to the stage floor for each new rejection, reflecting the increasing social pressure on him.
The sound design is also more explicit and overt. While Rosmersholm had a subdued soundtrack of a distant waterfall in the background, the director of the Enemy of the People felt it necessary to underline all the major character beats with some audible cue. Metronomic beats and ghostly eerie sounds distracted from the performance more than they helped.
The Enemy of the People is a man with the strength of his own convictions - he is right, and the majority is wrong. Science and rationality trump the politically and socially expedient.
I enjoyed the themes of this play most of the three. The social forces of conformity and group power over the individual are still very much active today.
Brand
Brand is directed by the catalanian Calixto Bieito. There are many clichés about passionate Spaniards, but it does explain why this otherwise bleak play is bursting with life and color that is missing from the other performances. An antidote to the barren minimalist stages, Brand opens with a party in full swing, a giant suckling pig dominating the rear of the stage. Singing! Dancing! Sex! Three-ways! I’m sure I saw the polar-bear and the male stripper getting it on with the sexy nurse.
It is certainly not the Ibsen you read in school.
The stage thrusts a pier out among the audience, and occasionally characters enter through the audience. Before the play starts proper, a party is in full swing, and audience members are encouraged to dance or wiggle in their seats.
The scalloped oyster backdrop in the first act underlines the bubble that the party exists in. Then it deflates and transforms into the glacier / snow-fields for the remainder of the first part of the play. The scene changes happen as part of the action on stage - with either a chorus or sing-along to distract you from the actors who are clearing away props.
After the intermission, the audience returns to find a half-constructed church on stage, and Brand marches in to start whacking the plaster walls of the Nationaltheatre with a great big mallet before painting his slogan on an immense canvas sheet.
Brand is a man of unshakeable faith and conviction, but he demands equal faith and conviction of those around him. He sacrifices his son, his wife and ultimately himself to his uncompromising faith.
It’s a stunning piece of theatre - and one you should go see if you get a chance. It will hopefully shake your notion of what serious theatre can be.
Brand, Dr Stockmann and Rosmer all struggle with conviction. Rosmer loses his, Stockmann keeps his and grows stronger, while Brand lives off his until it destroys him. They all argue against the lack of conviction is the greater danger, and I suspect that today’s society would frighten or disgust them all. Our fear of causing offence and desire to avoid conflict leads us to abandon or hide our convictions in a manner that Dr Stockmann would find all to familar.
Add comment November 17th, 2008
Cultural Weekend in Paris
My better half asked “Can we go to Paris?” “urm - yes - let me see if I can get some time off.” My boss says “Go - relax, enjoy yourself. It’s important to get new inspiration.”
A few clicks and googles later (Thank you Hotels.com and Norwegian.com) - off we went for four nights in Montmartre, Paris.
Paris was beautiful, even in the rain. The Eiffel tower was lit up in European Union blue, with gold stars. We were surprised when it started sparkling for us - an effervescence of light. A beautiful bride and groom standing next to us on the sidewalk having their picture taken were ecstatic.
We slogged up the hill from the hotel to the Sacre Coeur to take in the view, and to wonder at what the large buildings scattered around Paris were supposed to be.
We had a packed program: Friday wandering around Paris - walking along the Seine, visiting the Notre Dame.
A flock of tourists on segways passed us at the Place de Concorde, on our way to the Tuileries. The classical statues (like Caesar or nymphs) fit in with the style of the garden, but the more modern pieces (like the one above “Gesture of Friendship” (I think) commissioned by the Minister of Culture) are a bit more challenging to get to grips with.
Saturday at the Louvre
Ten hours of walking around, gawking at artwork. Getting out for some fresh air and storming around the sculptures in the Richelieu wing. It’s overwhelming - the amount of beauty, wonder and horror that hangs on the wall.
We had the entire day to wander around - we made a meal of the south Denon wing where Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo live. After the number of crucifixions and halo’ed angels I’ve seen, I should have been converted to a devout Christian - but I remain Christian in name only.
We even made it to the norwegian corner - up in the corner on the top floor of the Richelieu wing - we found Peder Balke’s paintings of norwegian landscapes. A pleasant meeting - something small and familar amid all the large scale art that hangs in the Louvre.
The wikipedia and an internet enabled phone is very useful when you come across a particularly interesting piece of artwork. My french got a refresher as I tried to decipher the little plaques next to the artwork. Next to the “Raft of the Medusa” was an explanation of the history behind the painting. Knowing the story and intention behind the painting makes it even more gripping and interesting.
We made a trip to the Arc de Triomphe - I thought this would be boring, but I was pleasantly surprised by the view and the museum inside the Arc itself.
It’s bigger than it looks.
We arrived just as the ceremony for the kindling of the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier was winding down. Up on top it was windy and cold, and I was afraid my mobile would slip from my stiff fingers and take a tumble down into the traffic below.
Dinner at a small brasserie near the hotel - after trekking around the far end of the Champs Elysees looking for a good french restaurant. It was getting late, so we were grateful to sit inside and get a hot meal. I misunderstood the menu, and ended up with a pair of suspicious (but delicious) sausages.
Sunday at the Orsay
(first sunday of the month - so we got in free!). The line to get in was long as we showed up at 11 am - but it moved along at a generous pace, so we didn’t have time to get bored.
Inside the Orsay was yet more art. A special exhibit on impressionists and pastel art that turned out to be quite educational. Fay wanted to go see an exhibit on Picasso and his Masters (Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe) but the line to get in was too long.
My biggest surprise was wandering into a room full of van Gogh paintings and Japanese tourists. There is (I think) something especially vibrant in van Gogh’s colors. The late summer heat shimmers and radiates from “The Harvesters”
While walking through the larger galleries on the ground floor we passed a lovely polar bear surrounded by children drawing sketches. Their teacher was explaining something about how the bear was standing on a platform, and asking if that was part of the statue or not.
Dinner at a nice Hungarian restaurant up the street from our hotel. The proper restaurant experience, not just a simple brasserie meal, but with fancy dishes and the works. Lovely and satisfying.
Monday in Montmartre and Pompidou
We had time for a brief trip to Les Abesses and to the Pompidou before we left for Orly in the evening.
Fay had heard about a wall covered in “I Love You” messages, near the Abesses in Montmartre - right by the Metro entrance. After a bit of walking around the back streets of Amelie Poulin country, we found it - it is in the abbey garden - with quiet little walkways that lead you to the wall itself. This wall is beautiful. “I love you” repeated in dozens of different languages. While we were taking pictures and spotting languages we recognized, another class of students on a field trip showed up for some graffiti appreciation.
A different wall of “Love You” messages is not so far from the Eiffel tower. Originally a symbol of American-French fraternité, the torch of freedom has now been repurposed as a Diana memorial. On the wall over the highway underpass are scribbled love notes to the dead, including one from this year’s Miss Norway contestants.
The Pompidou was a pleasant surprise. Outside the sun was shining and the water was burbling in the sculpture/playground. Inside was even more art, but also interactive video installations, torn up posters, sculpture, and a special exhibit on the Futurist movement.
Some of it makes you ask - how can this be art? Torn posters, anonymous art? Collage? If nothing else, it made me think and ask questions. Answers were not as forthcoming though.
Other artwork just left you dumbfounded - the whale that dived down at you as you came into the room was beautiful and left me with an impression of a dream of flying.
Strangest sight was a room with ropes strung across it, with a pair of binoculars entangled in the ropes. It’s sculpture, but not as we know it. The inflatable furniture was a good laugh (especially since it’s now readily available from Ikea)
The view from the top of the exterior escalator at the Pompidou is also well worth the trip up - standing up on the free-floating platform and looking out over the rooftops of the city made my stomach flutter in a way that the Eiffel does not. The feeling that the platform is just hovering in the air is unnerving.
We had an early dinner (Chinese take-out. Turns out that most bars and restaurants close between 3 and 6 pm.) and trip back to the airport. Orly is thankfully straightforward to navigate, but less futuristic in its architecture than CDG. After only a 30 minute delay, we got to sit in the foetid air inside the norwegian branded metal tube with wings. Not so much fun.
Add comment November 5th, 2008
Le fin du voyage
Le fin du voyage, originally uploaded by xt1.
Only 30 min delayed, but with humid, nay, fetid air on board it was a long and stinky flight.
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Christian via Mobile
Add comment November 4th, 2008
Watching the Mona Lisa
Watching the Mona Lisa, originally uploaded by xt1.
Everybody is looking at the Mona Lisa.
The Mona Lisa is looking at the Wedding at Cana
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Christian via Mobile
Add comment November 1st, 2008
Depart To Paris
Depart To Paris, originally uploaded by xt1.
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Christian via Mobile
Add comment October 30th, 2008
Winter 2008 Begins
29.oct 2008 - 9 am - on the way to work through Slottsparken in Oslo.
Snow covers the ground for the first time this winter.
Add comment October 29th, 2008
I’ll Miss You, Grandma
Dagny Brinch (1914 - 2008)
Pictured here enjoying the summer two years ago, surrounded by grandchildren and great-grand-children.
A google of my late grandmother turns up a music video as one of the first hits. My great-cousin Niels Cederfeld in Los Angeles has a music video that features a brief clip of Dagny from the early 70s.
Add comment September 3rd, 2008
Farmor is 92 years young
Farmor is 92 years young, originally uploaded by xt1.
Birthday celebrations at the Ekeberg restaurant above Oslo.
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Christian via Mobile
Add comment August 28th, 2008
Summer in Norway
Summer in Norway, originally uploaded by xt1.
It’s not so bad.
This is in a wee boat outside Tromøya.
Add comment July 22nd, 2008