BLOD&TRO - a Blood Service

Fresh Scenes is the festival profile for the Northern Norway Festival 2026-27.

Premiere June 21st at the Northern Norway Festival

On Sunday, June 21st, we open the doors for the seventh unique performance in the Blodklubb series. This time we invite you to the Blood Service in Harstad Church! It will be an hour and a half happening about the relationship between genetics and religion, in other words BLOOD&FAITH.

What we believe in and what rules of conduct apply lie at the core of all cultures. Understanding is passed on from one generation to the next, and even though we believe we have freed ourselves from the gods of our ancestors, they are often still with us. What does the victim of Norwegianization and the descendant of a preacher, Bernt Bjørn, believe in? What about the Finnish high-altitude researcher Kristina Junttila and the bearer of Norwegian guilt Kristin Bjørn ?

We offer processions and rituals, there will be alternating singing and yoik, facts and fantasies, prayers and blood sacrifices, light seriousness and deep humor or vice versa, all with newly composed music by and with pianist Herborg Rundberg . Percussionist Alexander Kostopoulos and organist Christoph Beyrer also participate. Costumes and objects are designed by the stage artists Prokhor Gusev and Gulnara Iskakova.

FAITH, DOUBT AND INHERITANCE
Behind it lies the meeting between Laestadianism and ancient natural beliefs - a meeting between Christian pietism and unruly underground people who still inspire and provoke. The history of religions in the world is as old as that of man. It is easy to imagine that faith has been a prerequisite for survival in hard times. There are scientists who claim that the human ability to believe so strongly in something that it becomes a subjective truth has been embedded in our genes. Then it is not so unlikely that the longing for faith and meaning is also genetic?

Fresh Scenes and Blood Club
Ferske Scener's performance series Blodklubb is the club for everyone who has blood. Founders Sigbjørn Skåden, Bernt Bjørn, Kristina Junttila and Kristin Bjørn established the club in 2018. Blodklubb is a series of performances where each performance has its own dramaturgy and agenda. With humor and surprising angles, the relationship between culture and genetics is examined, with the Sami as the focal point.

  • CONTRIBUTORS

    Kristin E. Bjørn Co-creator and performer

    Kristina Junttilla Co-creator and performer

    Bernt Bjørn Co-creator and performer 

    Prokhor Gusev Co-creator and performer

    Gulnara Iskakova Co-creator and performer

    Herborg Rundberg Composer/musician

    Alexander Kostopoulos musician

    Christoph Beyrer musician

    Sigbjørn Skåden script consultant

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