PRESS REVIEWS






Dagsavisen, Oslo 09/17/98
Catrine Paulsen: "Intellectual gameacting with Strindberg"


Trine Wiggen brings to the stage a marvelously distant almost cynical and double dimension to the character of Alice. For it is the double identity or meta-acting which is at the core of this production. When Edgar orders the «Entry of the Bojars» and tip-toes off in pathetic balet leaps the dance of death becomes stark and real. Kurt and Alice dance to The Clash in a somewhat more up to date mood.


Anders T. Andersen, Erik Ulfsby and Trine Wiggen play together excellently throughout. This company knows their Strindberg, in the same way as we in Strinberg's own plays recognize our own psychological power balance. The physical violence and terror is kept to a minimum. Instead Kurt and Edgar are confused as to what their roles are all about. In fact, the only one to keep her cool is Alice. However, she too must succumb to the final judgement: the voice from the radio theatre, (Christian Skolmen) who points out that after all its just pictures.
The design is as simple as the concept of the Black-box theatre. Lighting is elegant - as when cigarette smoke becomes a floating carpet in the aftermath of another verbal outburst. Part of a Council of Cultures Intermezzo-backing the show will not be running long. Only long enough for you to recommend it.









Bergens Tidende, Bergen 10/03/98
Sissel Hamre Dagsland "Ironic twist on the inherent wear and tear tale of living together"

!bang serve up a short version of Strinberg's Dance of Death and loosely based upon Durrenmatts "Play Strindberg". Whats left of these two works is a powerful brew, indeed. Anne Regine Klovholts directing is sharp and racy. She and her actors, with their backround from the national theatres, bring to the stage a strong professional standard.







Bergensavisen, 03.10.98
Points 5 out of 6.







Adresseavisa, Trondhjem 23.03.99
Haugan "Matrimonial pact in hell"

!bang, the stage project, delivers an intense and hateful matrimonial drama, with a dose of black humour. With tradition and innovation in a successful mix !bang use many historical references. Marriage is a familiar subject in the theatre. "Play Stindberg"'s departure point is psychological realism, a theatrical form which weaves its way like a scarlet thread through stage history from Ibsen to the present. !bang never copies, however, they give new blood to old familiar veins. The marriage in question is more claustrophobic, bitter and hateful than in any of Strindberg's or Ibsen's wedlock dramas. Former actress Alice (Trine Wiggen) and Edgar, the military man (Anders T. Andersen), live together in a relationship where the abyss opened up years ago and wounds never healed are refilled regularly with venom and gall.


The married couple lives isolated on an island where all islanders are referred to as "rabble". Tonight sweet music floats in through the window from the summer party given by The Doctor next door. The couple is not invited. Like a liberator from the doom and gloom Alices cousin and ex-boyfriend Kurt rolls up and is welcomed into their open tentacles. He is used ruthlessly as a pawn in the spouses struggle for power and pity, guilt and vengeance. However, in the mutual struggle to get rid of eachother an interdependency spun by a sticky spiders mesh shines on through to tie them together. They even share moments of mutual compassion. In the midst of the tragedy !bang has inserted doses of black and bitter humour, in text and body language.


The actors, under the sure handed guidance of director Anne Regine Klovholt, are fast and sharp. The lines rain down like machinegun shots without being detrimental to the pacing of the acting itself. The staging is extremely sparse, with few props. Music is used for very direct effects without upsetting the purely theatrical form.


The three young actors who keep a tight grip on the compressed action are all experienced actors of the stage and screen, with solid backgrounds and skills acquired from the national actor companies, while also representing something fresh, audacious and creative.In the closing stages, when Edgar says in a toneless voice, "How about celebrating our wedding day?" and Alices "Yes" is left hanging in the air, the play has fastened the grip on its audience.







Aftonbladet, Stockholm SE 31.08.99
Claes Wahlin "Delete! Delete! Like hell!"

The title is a quote from Strindberg's letter to his daughter Karin Schmirnoff, and was meant as a piece of advice regarding her newly written drama.

The actor group !bang from Norway is fooling around at Boulevardteatern with Play Stndbrg, a light tragedy based on the Dance of Death. With elegance Strindberg's matrimonial hell is transformed into a kind of puppet act with, more in common perhaps with the dances of death danced by the marillions of the middle ages than with Strindberg's deadly serious play. Here the characters of Edgar, Kurt and Alice seem to have been disconnected from their parts without really knowing. By "deleting like hell" and by way of a beautiful musicality as well as some excellent performances we were served a very entertaining hour indeed.







Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm SE 31.08.99
Sven Hansell "Disrespectful Norwegians turn the Dance of Death into fun"

This production mirrors our times in its brevity, minimalism and disrespectfulness. Director Anne Regine Klovholt has removed herself as far from the programme of realism as possible. There is no penthouse, no piano, no soldiers or maid servants. All we see is a drapery and two chairs on an otherwise empty stage. We are in the here and now. Alice (Trine Wiggen) is running a slide show on a projector and The Clash is providing the dance music.


The lack of meaning in the lives of Edgar and Alice is consuming them both. In the same way in which naturalism is absent in this production the sense of reality is absent in their own lives. Thus the play communicates a bittersweet but very accurate picture of the post-modern condition of being lost.







Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm SE 30.08.99 Lars Ring
"A round of slander, hate and revenge."

Play Stndbrg uses irony as an explicit subtext. The dance of death is transformed from a matrimonial tragedy into a contemporary and racy comedy. It is funny and satirical.




back