National Theater
The Nationaltheatret (German " Nationaltheater ") was opened in Oslo in 1899 and is the largest spoken theater in Norway . With its classic productions - especially the plays by Henrik Ibsen - it has become internationally known. Especially in the 1960s and 1970s, and since around 1990, the Nationaltheatret has also systematically promoted contemporary drama. The theater building designed by the architect Henrik Bull has been a listed building since 1983 .
Surname
The new main stage in Oslo only got its name during the construction phase in the 1890s. Since the inauguration of the building, the National Theater lettering has been located under the tympanum on the front . At the same time, the particular form of the word (i.e. Nationaltheatret , also National-Theatret ) quickly came into circulation. After the Norwegian spelling reform of 1917, which aimed to adapt the spelling more closely to oral pronunciation, the house should actually have been renamed the Nasjonalteater or Nasjonalteatret , analogous to the neighboring Nasjonalgalleriet , which had existed since 1842 . Apparently, however, the management of the theater wanted to keep the more venerable and traditional name Nationaltheatret for the then only 18-year-old house . The initially most important task of the cultural institution, which had consisted of identifying the population with the still young nation , which was pushing for independence from Sweden , was thus given a touch of solemnity.
history
The Christiania Theater
The history of the house goes back to the Christiania Theater , built by the architect Christian Heinrich Grosch , which had been on Bankplassen since 1837 and which was closed immediately before the opening of the Nationaltheatret . Due to Norway's political and cultural dependence on Denmark (1380–1814) for over 400 years , the Norwegian language was initially considered to be crude and crude. Isolated attempts to establish Norwegian as a stage language met with broad rejection from the educated Oslo citizens, who violently distanced themselves from the so-called “gutter” idiom. As a result, mostly Danish actors were employed at the Christiania Theater in the first few decades, most of whom staged Danish dramas and vaudevilles .
It was not until the 1860s, after the stage had merged with the Kristiania Norske Theater , that the Norwegian language began to make its way onto the stage, and Norwegian plays began to be staged more and more frequently. The trend ran parallel to the genesis of a new patriotic consciousness, which in the second half of the 19th century gave rise to the desire for full independence and which increasingly questioned the personal union with Sweden (1814–1905).
Opening in 1899
The Nationaltheatret consequently followed this development . It was opened in September 1899 with three festive performances: on the first evening (September 1st) excerpts from two comedies by Ludvig Holberg were played, on the second evening (September 2nd) Henrik Ibsen's play Ein Volksfeind took place , on the third evening Finally (September 3rd) Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's crusader drama Sigurd Jorsalfar was on the program. One of the highlights of this third day was that Edvard Grieg himself conducted the performance version of his well-known incidental music for Bjørnson's piece. Bjørnson and Ibsen were personally present on all three evenings, and on the first also the Swedish-Norwegian King Oskar II .
The Nationaltheatret was created on a private initiative and was initially run with purely private funds. As early as 1906, a year after Norway gained independence from Sweden, it experienced its first economic crisis. It was not until 1927, however, that the city of Oslo granted the stage a relatively modest grant of 123,000 crowns. The Norwegian state first contributed a small amount to the costs in 1933, but this has increased continuously since then. In the 1970s, government grants temporarily covered 94% of the budget . This record high has never been reached since then.
The first directors
The first director of the house was Bjørn Bjørnson , a son of the playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson , who had received his extensive theater training at the Burgtheater in Vienna . His successors ensured a kind of golden age for the new stage: the Norwegian author Vilhelm Krag and the actor and director Halfdan Christensen. The nation-building project temporarily took a back seat, so that contemporary foreign drama began to gain a foothold. While mainly German and French comedies were on the program during the First World War , the repertoire became more serious after 1918. Pieces by the long-neglected Swedish Ibsen rival August Strindberg have now reached the stage, as have socially critical dramas by George Bernard Shaw or Arthur Schnitzler .
The period between around 1908 and 1933 was not least characterized by performances by great actors who occasionally also worked as directors. Names like Hauk Aabel , August Oddvar, Egil Eide, Ingolf Schanche or Ragna Wettergreen are still familiar to every Norwegian theater lover. The most important actress of this period, however, was without a doubt Johanne Dybwad , after whom the square in front of the theater building has been named since 1989. Her popularity was so great that all artistic directors granted her significant privileges. At times she was able to determine which pieces were staged and which actors were used. In 1908, the then 41-year-old diva cast herself as Hedvig in Ibsen's Die Wildente - regardless of the fact that the character in the play is just celebrating her 14th birthday.
The national theater during the occupation
On April 9, 1940, just a few hours after the occupation of Norway by German troops , the theater was temporarily converted into a barracks for Hitler's soldiers. Later, the occupying forces forced several guest performances by German theaters that performed Wagner operas, Viennese operettas and German classics. The German-friendly actor Gustav Berg-Jæger replaced the artistic director Axel Otto Normann.
In May 1941, the Gestapo interrogated six actors who were suspected of preparing resistance actions - with the result that they were forbidden to continue their profession with immediate effect. Then many of her colleagues were, despite massive threats of the Reich Commissioner Josef Terboven , in a strike that shortly afterwards the theaters in Bergen and Trondheim captured. On May 24, 1941, 13 actors from the Nationaltheatret were arrested and only released two weeks later, after several negotiations. After the summer break of that year, the actors resumed their work on the express orders of the occupying power.
In October 1943 the stage, the Schnürboden and the roof of the theater caught fire during a sabotage action coordinated by the Norwegian resistance movement . The National Theater was then not playable for months; the rehearsals and performances had to be moved to the Det Nye Teater building (The New Theater).
Theater fire in 1980
Another devastating fire, which forced the theater management to all sorts of improvisations, occurred on October 9, 1980. The fire broke out around 9 pm during a performance of the comedy The Kingfisher by William Douglas Home. The grande dame of the theater, the actress Wenche Foss , informed the astonished audience from the stage that they had to leave the theater directly. On the so-called Amfiscenen (amphibious stage) above the main hall, the evening's performance continued; the audience and actors had noticed the alarm that was quickly triggered, but suspected that a fire drill was taking place in another part of the building. With raw muscle power, the stage manager and some stage workers managed to lower the iron curtain , which could no longer be operated electrically , so that the flames could not reach the auditorium on the main stage.
Nobody was harmed, but the stage was completely destroyed. An exploded headlight was later identified as the cause of the fire. Until the theater reopened in August 1985 with a production by Ibsen's Peer Gynt , the performances took place in a tent in front of the theater or on smaller play areas in the house.
profile
Beginnings as a three-branch theater
In the first years the Nationaltheatret functioned not only as a spoken theater, but also as an institution for opera and operetta performances. The world-famous Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad celebrated her first successes here in 1913 (as Nuri in Eugen d'Albert's opera Tiefland ). Especially in times of economic hardship, productions z. B. from Franz Lehárs The Merry Widow for important income. The theater had its own orchestra until 1919 , from which the Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester , which still exists today, developed. Between 1910 and 1922 the theater also had its own ballet ensemble . Only in the course of the twenties did the classic three-branch house (drama, music, dance) become a spoken theater.
Holberg, Bjørnson, Ibsen
From the beginning - and up to the present day - the work of the trio of authors Holberg, Bjørnson and above all Ibsen played a major role in the repertoire of the Nationaltheatret . The names of these often so called pillars of the theater have always been emblazoned on the front of the theater.
Bjørnson's double drama Über die Kraft I - II had its Norwegian premiere in the opening season , as did his play Paul Lange and Tora Parsberg two years later , which has been part of the Oslo stage canon since 1901 . The latter also applies to Holberg's comedies, which appear regularly in the repertoire. His most popular work, Jeppe vom Berge , was staged ten times in very different ways between 1903 and 2003.
As early as March 1900, Henrik Ibsen's theater was producing the controversial drama Gespenster , which had only been performed twice in Norway after years of banning. In the first five years after the opening of the house, the audience was allowed to experience no fewer than twelve Ibsen premieres; the Nationaltheatret thus followed the tradition of the Christiania Theater , which had become famous not least for national premieres of numerous plays by Ibsen. Even during the occupation, Ibsen productions were considered a bone of contention. In individual cases, e.g. B. on the occasion of a production of Brand in 1942, functionaries of the occupying power as well as parts of the resistance movement invoked the Norwegian national poet.
International Ibsen Festival
Since the effects of Ibsen's texts continue to the present day, the then director Stein Winge decided in 1990 to hold an annual International Ibsen Festival at the Nationaltheatret . Interesting Ibsen productions from many countries around the world, such as Denmark , Sweden , Germany , Austria , the Baltic States , France , Great Britain , the USA , and even Burkina Faso , China , Iran or Nepal have been since then - at the beginning of the new season - invited to Oslo. These guest performances are regularly juxtaposed with several in-house productions of Ibsen dramas. The festival has been held every two years since 2002. In 2006, on the 100th anniversary of Ibsen's death, 31 international productions could be seen at the Nationaltheatret and some of the cooperating theaters. The festivals are accompanied by international symposia on Ibsen’s drama. No other institution in the world has been so committed to the work of the Norwegian author as the Nationaltheatret ; the number of corresponding performances on all stages of the house now exceeds 3000.
Contemporary drama
Even the first artistic director Bjørn Bjørnson was very committed to contemporary Norwegian drama of his time. Several pieces by the then renowned playwright Gunnar Heiberg were premiered at the Nationaltheatret .
Also plays in the minority language Nynorsk could be seen from the beginning, such as the extremely successful music theater play Fossegrimen by Sigurd Eldegard. Later, however, the Nynorsk drama found its home on Det Norske Teatret , which was founded in 1912 , even if Nynorsk performances can still be found in the repertoire of the Nationaltheatret today.
The artistic director Arild Brinchmann, who took over the artistic direction of the stage in 1967 with the aim of presenting a politically radical theater, was particularly close to the Zeitstück. In the form of group work and with the aesthetic means of revue and documentary theater , z. B. 1974 the production Jenteloven (literally: The Girls' Law, based on Aksel Sandemose's term Janteloven ). On the basis of interviews, the play mainly examined the situation of women in the workplace. Work of this kind earned the director severe criticism even from the state supervisory authority. Brinchmann's reputation as a theater maker hardly suffered as a result, especially since he had ensured that the Norwegian audience was familiarized with playwrights such as Samuel Beckett , Harold Pinter and Peter Weiss . In addition, he succeeded in engaging directors such as Ingmar Bergman and Hansgünther Heyme , known throughout Europe, for individual productions.
Since the mid-1990s, the theater has also contributed to the international success of the Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse , whose stage work is received worldwide. Several Fosse dramas, e.g. B. The Child (1996) and Traum im Herbst (1999) both premiered at the Nationaltheatret . At the same time, texts by other contemporary European dramatists (e.g. by Sarah Kane , Michael Frayn , Robert Woelfl , Elfriede Jelinek and Wassilij Sigarew ) were on the schedule. In 2003 the Samtidsfestivalen (festival of contemporary drama ) was organized for the first time and has since taken place in alternating rhythm with the International Ibsen Festival.
Buildings and stages
architecture
At the end of the 1870s, planning began for a new theater to replace the Christiania Theater . A specially awarded architecture competition revealed 14 designs, none of which, in the opinion of the jury, were initially entirely satisfactory. After a few changes, the proposal of the then 27-year-old architect Henrik Bull , who had completed his studies in Berlin , was accepted. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in November 1891, but due to constant financing problems and extensive foundation work in a largely marshy area, the new house on Studenterlunden , not far from Schloss, Storting and the historic university grounds on Karl Johans gate , was not completed until 1899.
Bull's design was based on the then common German theater architecture. He combined elements of Art Nouveau , Berlin Classicism of that time and Neo- Rococo and was designed for a holistic effect. The interior, e.g. As the establishment of the parquet and the furniture in the vestibule should stylistically in harmony with the outer appearance of the hotel, of which today the surviving first row of chairs of the main hall testifies. In addition to plasterers from Germany and Italy, numerous well-known Norwegian painters participated in the decoration of the public areas . B. Christian Krohg and his son Per Krohg , Erik Werenskiold and Peder Severin Krøyer .
In front of the front of the theater there are two statues of the playwrights Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Henrik Ibsen created by the sculptor Stephan Sinding . They stand on stacked, circular foundations, which the people of Oslo mockingly refer to as cheese bases . The Holberg statue by the sculptor Dyre Vaa has been on view on the north side since 1939 . Next to Holberg are two of his most famous stage characters: the smart servant couple Henrik and Pernille, borrowed from the Commedia dell'arte . The latter figure is the namesake of an open-air restaurant in the immediate vicinity of the theater, which is traditionally a meeting point for artists and the center of so-called Russian celebrations .
Main stage
The main stage from 1899, framed by a mighty gold arch, which is still used today after various renovations and modernizations, was designed as a classic peep-box theater . Your orchestra pit offers space for 45 musicians; it has been rotatable since 1917. Originally the main stage hall was designed for 1268 spectators ; After the construction of the Amfiscenen in the round dome of the building, there is still space for 741 visitors in the splendidly decorated room. National and international classics as well as children's and youth plays are played on the main stage.
More stages
When the Amfiscenen opened on the third floor of the building in 1963, it was the first Norwegian side stage to be located in the main building of a theater. After renovations in 1980 (following the fire in the theater) and 1999, the room can be used in a very variable way thanks to flexible seating. Depending on the room solution, the small hall can hold up to 230 visitors. The Amfiscenen is home to theater literature of all genres and is also available for guest performances. 2004 showed there z. For example, the ensemble Mabou Mines from New York made a spectacular adaptation of Ibsen's piece Nora .
In 1983 some of the workshops were relocated to the east of Oslo. Since then, the theater's former Malersalen ( painter's hall ) has served as an additional play area. The intimate space, with a maximum of 60 spectators per performance, has developed into an important forum for contemporary Norwegian and international drama. Even poetry evenings or author presentations take place here occasionally. The Bakscenen (back stage) is used rather sporadically and can only be used if it is not needed as a storage location for scenery and props in connection with material-intensive productions on the main stage.
Torshovteatret
The Torshovteatret , which was founded in 1977 and is located in a former library building built in 1928 in Vogts gate, is also affiliated with the Nationaltheatret . It was in keeping with the zeitgeist of the 1970s to establish a purely district theater in the eastern, culturally underserved districts of Oslo. With a decidedly popular, but at the same time by no means politically indifferent program, the institutional theater was to win a new audience beyond the educated middle class. The actors, in turn, were given a greater right to participate in all repertoire issues. The artistic direction is still in the hands of a group of three to four actors who develop a common aesthetic concept over a period of two years and largely independently have a certain budget.
The Torshovteatret was opened with a drama about the needs of old people in the welfare state , which turned out to be a box-office hit and ran no less than 63 times in front of sold-out stands. A similarly big success was the farce , which was produced shortly afterwards in the spring of 1978, is Not Paid! by Dario Fo . Since then, the performances on the circus-like, round stage have repeatedly provoked artistic and political discussions.
present
Goals and Perspectives
The Nationaltheatret has set itself the artistic goal of becoming a leading theater in Europe and is still making a name for itself through the Ibsen Festival and the Samtidsfestivalen . In addition, the theater has entered into selective collaborations with the national theaters of Denmark and Sweden ( Det Kongelige Teater ; Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern ) in recent years . Under the auspices of the Norwegian state development aid , the Nationaltheatret worked together with the Carrefour International de Théâtre de Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso between 2002 and 2006 . This commitment began with the multicultural productions of the Torshovteatret and led to the development of joint productions in Africa (including Ein Volksfeind , 2002), which were then invited to Oslo. The actor Issaka Sawadogo from Ouagadougou was at times a permanent member of the Torshovteatret ensemble . Further collaborations in West Africa are planned.
Ensemble and performances
On Nationaltheatret nearly 90 actors are involved, which are among the best in the country and achievements in some cases also with national and international film projects have achieved. This ensemble produced a total of 771 performances in 2008, which were seen by 212,000 spectators, which corresponds to a seat occupancy of 78 percent.
The theater was subsidized by the public in 2008 - with ticket receipts of 49.2 million kroner (approx. 5.7 million euros) - with an amount of 135 million kroner (approx. 15.8 million euros). The theater has long-term sponsorship agreements with private companies such as the financial services company DnB NOR .
The director of the Nationaltheatret has been Hanne Tømta since January 1st, 2009.
Directors
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literature
- Martin Kolberg: Nationaltheatret i Oslo. - In: Manfred Brauneck / Gérard Schneilin (eds.), Theaterlexikon. Terms and epochs, stages and ensembles . Rowohlts Enzyklopädie, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1992 (3rd, completely revised and expanded new edition) ISBN 3-499-55465-8 .
- Lise Lyche: Norges theater history . Tell, Asker 1991, ISBN 82-7522-006-8 .
- Nils Johan Ringdal: Nationaltheatrets historie 1899–1999 . Gyldendal, Oslo 2000, ISBN 82-05-26482-1 .
- Anton Rønneberg: Nationaltheatret gjennom femti år . Gyldendal, Oslo 1949.
- Anton Rønneberg: Nationaltheatret 1949–1974 . Gyldendal, Oslo 1974, ISBN 82-05-06253-6 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Lise Lyche, Norges teaterhistorie, Asker 1991, p. 178
- ↑ cf. Nils Johan Ringdal, Nationaltheatrets historie 1899–1999, Oslo 2000, p. 416
- ↑ cf. Lise Lyche, Norges teaterhistorie, Asker 1991, p. 134
- ↑ cf. Carola Peckolt, The Norwegian Theater during the German Occupation 1940 to 1945, in: Scandinavian Studies , 20, 1990, pp. 24–39
- ↑ cf. Eric Samuelson, Occupation Theater: Ibsen's Brand in Performance in Norway, 1940-1942, in: Scandinavian Studies , 66, 1994, pp. 488-520, here: p. 491
- ↑ cf. Alf G. Andersen, Et nasjonalt symbol ( Memento from October 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), www.hovedstaden.no (accessed September 1, 2009)
- ↑ cf. Lise Lyche, Norges teaterhistorie, Asker 1991, p. 218
- ↑ a b Årsberetning 2008 ( Memento from December 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.5 MB)
Coordinates: 59 ° 54 ′ 51.5 ″ N , 10 ° 44 ′ 3.3 ″ E
