Two homes - Nordby productions

What is it like to experience your parents moving apart?

"Two Homes" is about a girl who finds that her parents are suddenly no longer living together. They ask her to choose where she wants to live and this triggers questions about guilt and thoughts about what rights she has. What does it mean to live in two homes and how does it feel? Is what is fair for the parents always the best for the child? "Two Homes" is also about a friendship between two young people who have to take on a lot of responsibility, despite their different stories.

Aftenposten wrote in its review of the performance:

"Is what is fair for the parents necessarily ideal for the child? For the two 14-year-olds in the play, this fairness experiment is first and foremost very tiring. There are two sets of rules. "Or no rules," as the boy in the show says. The youngsters solve this by not following their parents' schedule, but instead following their own path. Stay with a friend for a while, sleep at dad's when you're supposed to be at mom's, or just run off into the woods to get some peace and quiet. There's a kind of hope in that. Because on the other side of the emotional chaos, a bigger world awaits.

Oslo's new outreach children's theater has created a wonderful performance about being 14 years old and divided between mom and dad. The production takes the children's side without compromise. But it is also surprisingly open to the audience's own thoughts, as good theater art should be.

Two Homes is unlikely to solve the parents' relationship problems, and it has no educational tools for their children. But the show has a power that is greater than that: It is theater at its best."

(Per Christian Selmer, Aftenposten 2017.)

Young people who have seen the show say:

"That's how I feel. Living in a bag, sometimes forgetting things and having to go 40 minutes to get it." (Boy 15 years old, audience)

"When I saw the performance, I was almost proud of what I have experienced. I was proud to see a performance about it." (Girl 17 years old, Sentralen)

"I thought it was nice and embarrassing, both sad and funny." (Boy 14 years old, Opprop Tveten)

Contributors

The girl: Hanne Gjerstad Henrichsen
The boy: Henrik Hoff Vaagen
The mother/health nurse: Birgit Nordby
The father: Yngve Berven

The roles of the girl and the father will be taken over by Andrea Vik and Martin Karelius Østensen in the fall of 2021.

Artistic layer

Script and direction: Toril Solvang
Based on an idea by: Birgit Nordby
Stage design and costumes: Elias Kahn
Choreographer: Maja Roel
Lighting design and technician: Kristjan Belgau
Composer: Julian Skar
Text dramaturge: Kristina Kjeldsberg
Workshop: Kroloftet/by Frans Friis
Production: Nordby Productions

Photo: Eskil Johsen, Approximately Equal

"Two Homes" was developed as a co-production between Tigerstadsteatret and Nordby Produksjoner, and is today produced by Nordby Produksjoner.

The play was written by playwright Toril Solvang, inspired by interviews she and Birgit Nordby have conducted with young people about their experiences with shared residence. They have collaborated with Robust, a counseling service for children and young people who need someone to talk to, in the development of the material.

Since its premiere at Sentralen in Oslo in 2017, the production has played at Trikkestallen, Rommen Scene and on tour in Dks in several counties.

Developed with support from: Arts Council Norway, Dramatikkens Hus, Fritt Ord, Spenn, Ffuk, Fond for frilansere, SoriaLab and the City of Oslo.

Sunday, November 28, 2021

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