Hvordan gjøre scenekunst med teatervitenskap

This article is based on a lecture presented on the 25th of May 2018 at the conference Teatervitenskap – historiografi, teori og praksis in Bergen. This conference’s objective was to defend the section of Theatre Studies at the University of Bergen against cuts, and the lecture’s corresponding objective was to exemplify how theatre studies, besides consisting in research on performing arts, also is productively effective in creative processes of performing arts respectively in this field’s artistic research. In relation to the conference’s three focal points – historiography, theory, and practice – referred the lecture to three examples: Mette Ingvartsen’s performance 69 positions from 2014, Iggy Malmborg’s performance b o n e r, also from 2014, and the author’s own work as theatre scholar with background in Applied Theatre Studies, particularly his collaboration as dramaturge with Heine Avdal and Yukiko Shinozaki / fieldworks in their productions distant voices (2014), carry on (2015) and unannounced (2017). The article presents these examples in a slightly changed order and adds, as their description’s background, a discussion on, firstly, the arguments that were used to defend theatre studies in the conference’s context, and, secondly, the relation between research and artistic research in Norway and the debate about it.

Perleporten – et post-brechtiansk teater?

I denne artikkelen viser jeg til Perleporten Teatergruppes særegne formspråk i forestillingene Knoll & Tott (1975) og i Jug meg en saga (1976), og hvordan formspråket er et resultat av gruppens politiske ståsted og anarkistisk livssyn, samt deres bakgrunn fra dramalinjen på Hartvig Nissen skole. Gruppens mål synes å ha vært å invitere publikum til å gjøre opp sine egne meninger og holdninger til sosiale, kulturelle og politiske problemstillinger. Disse ble løftet fram gjennom en bruk av anti-autoritære virkemidler og en fragmentarisk dramaturgi. I analysen av Perleportens teater har jeg sett på mulige berøringspunkter mellom The Living Theatre og Perleporten, som begge hadde anarkistiske idealer. I tillegg gjør jeg en nylesning av Jug meg en saga hvor jeg sammenstiller Perleportens bruk av fragmenterte narrativer og montasje av kontrasterende scener med et post-brechtiansk uttrykk. Et slikt uttrykk er særlig Heiner Müller kjent for. Ved å diskutere likheter og forskjeller mellom bruk av sceniske virkemidler og dramaturgi i oppsettinger av Perleporten Teatergruppe, The Living Theater og Heiner Müller søker jeg å vise hvordan Perleportens teater står i en anarkistisk-politisk tradisjon, som på 1970- og tidlig 80-tallet var usedvanlig i en norsk kontekst, men ikke nødvendigvis i en amerikansk eller europeisk kontekst.

Starten på et norsk teater

Ved åpningen av det første norske teateret i Bergen i 1850 markeres starten på en norsk spilltradisjon som vårt moderne tids teater bygger på. Denne artikkelen tar for seg skuespillerkunstens utvikling i Bergen på slutten av 1800-tallet, for å få en forståelse av hvordan teateret og skuespillerkunsten var de første tiårene etter etableringen av Det Norske Theater og Den Nationale Scene, og vil redegjøre for utviklingen av realismen som stilideal i skuespillerkunsten i Norge. Skuespillerkunstens utvikling i løpet av siste halvdel av 1800-tallet kan ses i sammenheng med samtidsdramatikken, særlig Ibsen og Bjørnsons borgerlige dramaer. I tillegg sto skuespillerkunsten i en praktisk tradisjon, og skuespillerens rom for utvikling må ses i sammenheng med dette. Uten en teoretisk skolering må arbeidet skje i samarbeid med andre skuespillere og instruktør. Noen instruktører blir særs viktig i perioden, og disse trekkes frem i artikkelen. Utviklingen i skuespillerkunsten skjer i skuespillerens søken etter å formidle teksten på en kunstnerisk og samtidig virkelighetsnær måte.

Likestilt dramaturgi

In her article, Wenche Larsen presents a heterogeneous, dramaturgical model based on an understanding of dramaturgy as the theatrical shaping and composition of material and artistic components in space and time – according to aesthetic principles. There are three concepts that form the basis of the model: Aristotle’s concept of Mythos, Knut Ove Arntzen and Hans-Thies Lehmann’s concept of ‘visual dramaturgy’, and Erika Fischer-Lichtes’ concept of performativity According to Larsen, these concepts point to three, different understandings of theatrical action – verbal, visual and physical action respectively. Larsen argues that her model can be used as an analytical tool in order to identify the various types of action in a play, although the three types of action often are interwoven.

Ei tverrfagleg tilnærming til scenespråk

This article explores a possible methodological framework for investigating verbal theatre language. Using an interdisciplinary approach, combining theatre studies with sociolinguistics, it is possible to increase knowledge about conventions and changes in Norwegian theatre language in the 20th century. I will demonstrate how sociolinguistics can provide a broader understanding of the development in Norwegian theatre, through investigating socially meaningful variation in theatre language.

Komiske og historiske pantomimer rundt 1800

Between 1750 and 1850, several itinerant troupes visited Norway. The theatrical plays they presented belonged to popular entertainment genres. In this article I examine the pantomimes these troupes performed in Norway: comical and historical pantomime. The aim of this examination is to provide a broader understanding of the two kinds of pantomimes presented by itinerant troupes in Norway around 1800. I end the article by looking at historiographical reasons as to why these performances have been more or less excluded from written, Norwegian theatre histories.

Teatervitenskap. Teaterhistorie og forestillingsanalyse

This article gives an insight into the beginnings and developments of the department of Theatre Studies at the Unviersity of Bergen. Looking back at its 50 years of existence as a subject at the University, professor Tor Trolie charts the changing paradigms of Theatre Studies in Bergen and its relationship to the theatre and performing arts.

Scenekunstens (for)handlingsrom etter 22. juli

In this article I discuss theatre’s scope of action after the 2011 terror attacks in Norway (“22. July”), with an emphasis on independent theatre, aesthetic heteronomy and the public sphere. A theatre manager’s (Jon Refsdal Moe) retrospect account of and reflections upon a case of self-censoring is the starting point for my (re-)examination of the arguments and dynamics concerning some of the most prominent contentious 22. July performances. I discuss how the controversies can be understood and dealt with, and how they are connected to theatre’s scope of action and place in society today. In my argument, I differentiate between the public sphere as an arena for discussion and debate (which theatre, as an institution, more or less has lost its impact on), and the public, conceived as an imagined community (which theatre still is strongly connected to, as assigned a publics’ symbolic space). I argue that the controversies about the 22. July performances, as well as the usage of marginal spaces, have to be understood as part of a far-reaching cultural dynamics after the terror attacks, concerning not only the arts, but numerous sectors of society, and that the performances aesthetic heteronomy requires a work- and context specific approach.

Forskeren og arkivet

About the researcher's quest for information about the unknown playwright Frederikke Bergh (1860–1916) and a discussion about what different archives can offer when the research object relates to a low-status topic such as drama for children.

PLURALISÉR!

This article seeks to identify a political potential in the performing arts, through defining the social construction 'audience' as a plural form, seen in parallel to society at large and dichotomies such as active/passive, agonism/antagonism and the inherent relationship between the artwork and its spectator. Plurality as such is defended by emphasising that diversity of opinion and disagreement may be necessary for positive social development. By looking at a variety of examples of audience participation in contemporary performing arts, the article defines several modes of voluntary and involuntary participation, drawing lines to established art theories as spectator emancipation and relational aesthetics.