We Raise Our Heads in Shame (2010)
Cast
Premiere :
June 19, 2010, Northern Norway Festival
On stage : Anneli Drecker, Bernt Bjørn, Håkon Mathias Vassvik, Nanna Elisabeth Berntsen, Espen Østman
Script : Kristin E Bjorn
Text contribution : Bjørn Are Dypås
Director : Kristin E.Bjørn / Jon Tombre
Scenography : Geir Tore Holm
Composer : Erik Stifjell
Lighting designer : Nicolas Horne
Producer : Anita Bjørnstad
Multi-technician : Isak E. Bjørn
Production Assistant : Caroline Berg
Sound engineer : Håkon Elias Pettersen
Musicians : Tore Bruvoll, guitar, Ola A. Rokkones, saxophone, Rune Larsen, accordion
The performance was a collaborative project with Dramatikkens hus, the Festival of Northern Norway, and Hålogaland Teater.
Supported by the Arts Council of Norway, Fund for Performing Artists, Fritt Ord, FINN tour
By Kristin E. Bjørn and Bjørn Are Dypås
We Raise Our Heads in Shame is a newly written northern Norwegian opera. A science fiction drama from the not-so-distant future.
Norway says a lot of nice things about environmental protection and peace mediation, but makes a lot of money from the oil industry and arms exports. What does this duplicity do to us? What does it do to us to be dependent on wealth that we know is based on the exploitation of others?
“The alternative is not peaceful servitude on the one hand and rebellion against servitude on the other. There is a third way, which thousands and millions of people choose every day. This is the way of passivity, of voluntary indifference, of internal emigration.” JM Coetzee
The characters in We Raise Our Heads in Shame dream of simple answers. When the nature child Bror unexpectedly appears among them, he becomes a most unwilling role model and a reluctant leader.
The first part of the performance is a play on the operatic form. The second part, Folkestyret, is an interactive meeting with the audience.
The script was developed in collaboration with Ferske Scener.
