Å LEVE VIDERE is the year's best show for young people

June 17, 2024

During the Hedda Prize ceremony on Sunday, the verdict was given. The performance Å LEVE VIDERE, produced by Rimfrost productions with Kloden theatre as a partner, took home the win in the Best Performance for Youth category.

The winner was in the company of famous nominees in his category. DOES MY BEAT FIT? by Nordic Black Xpress and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra with Kloden theater as co-producer, and SHORT YEARS, LONG DAYS by SPKRBOX was also nominated.

TO LIVE ON premiered on Kloden theater during the Showbox Festival 2023.

The jury's reasoning:

The performance strikes a precise balance between empathy and reflection, and at the same time creates a large and extremely important space for further dialogue: How can hatred and misanthropy tear us apart?

A simple scene. A lone actor. A tent, sleeping bags and an intimate and intense account of Norway's greatest peacetime trauma. A performance for all those who are too young to have any memories of July 22, 2011. To help young people understand what happened, and how we can prevent it from happening again.

The award goes to Å leve videre.

LIVING FORWARD

In the monologue performance Å LEVE VIDERE we meet the sister who was on Utøya with her brother. She was 17, he was 23. Her brother never returned home. She lives on, but the experiences from the terrorist attack become traumas that affect every part of her life.

I feel like I'm going to die. Every time.

My heart is pounding, I can't breathe, I just have to get away. 

Just because I see a man in a police uniform.

Breathe in, breathe out.

It's not dangerous. There you go, there you go. 

It's going well.

Remember how you taught me to breathe like this?

At the same time, she witnesses Norwegian society becoming more polarized, and the perpetrator's extreme views gaining ground in more and more people. Her frustration grows and brings out feelings she has not previously been able to face. She is facing a reckoning.

Welcome to the difficult space. LIVING ON is made by Rimfrost Produksjoner in collaboration with Kloden theatre. The performance is written and directed by Nina Wester based on conversations with a family from Northern Norway who lost one of their own on Utøya. The monologue reflects experiences after the terror, and experiences from the attack that occurred on Utøya. The performance is mainly made for a young audience with no memories of their own from July 22, 2011.

"I go through what happened over and over again for my brain to find a way to understand. Why did it happen? How is it possible? And why was it so quiet afterwards when we promised each other we would never stop shouting?"

Target group: Youth

Venue: Pilotscenen

Duration: Approximately 70 minutes

Triggers: Description of terrorist incident and gunshot wounds

Cast:

Script and direction: Nina Wester

Actress: Christina Sleipnes

Set and costume design: Mari Lotherington

Sound designer: Andreas Wangsbro

Lighting designer: Øystein Heitmann

Project manager/dramaturge: Kristine Myhre Tunheim

Dramaturg: Kristin Bjørn

Technical liquidator: Peder Unger Weierholt

Sigh: Annie Dahr Nygaard

Producer: Neste Trinn v/ Siri Hallingby Børs-Lind

Artistic director Rimfrost productions: Kristine Myhre Tunheim

Communications manager: Stine Anette Figenschau Hemmingsen

Seam: Hilde Skaffloth

Supported by: Norsk Kulturråd Fri Scenekunst Prosjekt, Scenekunstbruket, Fond for lyd og bilde, Tromsø Kommune, Dramatikkens Hus, Fritt Ord, Fond for frilansere, Rådstua Teaterhus, Davvi senter for scenekunst v/ Raske Penger and Artlab.

TO LIVE ON is a production of Rimfrost in collaboration with Kloden theater, and premiered during the 2023 Showbox Festival in Oslo.