"Utopia": The production that will never be finished
2 December 2024
Children's play is the common thread in "Utopia - A dream game from kindergarten" by Solvang & Roel, which Kloden theatre is co-producing. Now the performance will go on tour in Oslo. Just like child's play, the performance is always evolving.
- The motivation for creating the show has been that we feel that many children's everyday lives are characterized by stress. We therefore wanted to create a meditative and imaginative space where the children can both rest and fantasize, says Maja Roel, choreographer.
Together with playwright Toril Solvang-Kayiambakis, she has created "Utopia". "Utopia" is a nomadic performing arts project series, where the creators work towards and address different target groups. In this context, the target group is kindergartens.
A counterpart to the productive man
Maja and Toril call their project an anti-capitalist project.
- "Utopia - A dream game from the kindergarten" is a collective work, where the children are co-creators in their own way, without it being educational. One of the things we want to bring out is that the children do something important just by being who they are. Children are competent people and perhaps the most important target group, says Toril.
They see the performance as a life-affirming work. A celebration of play and imagination.
- For us adults, imagination is exciting, while for children it is completely natural. They are at a place in their development where imagination is very important. Many children live in a utopia, and we want this to be a part of controlling the direction the show takes, says Maja.
They see connections between children's play and performing arts, but with a clear difference:
When performing arts production is in a good process, it is very similar to children's play. One difference is that children are inside the good playground quite naturally.
- Toril Solvang-Kayiambakis
Dream spread
In the show, the creators work closely with a scenographer who changes the surroundings and turns the nursery into a "magical" place before the children arrive.
- We create the illusion that we are dream catchers who have come to the nursery to go dream hunting with the children. We give them dreams that we captured in the previous nursery, capture dreams with the children and take the dreams on to the next nursery, says Maja.
They believe that dreaming is particularly important in today's society, and that it is something both children and adults need.
- Society is not moving forward, it is not getting brighter and brighter. Dreaming is something that all people have as a possibility, and we need it even more now with everything that is happening in the world, says Toril.
Not yet
The term "Not yet", or "always on the way", is a central part of the performing arts project series "Utopia". The term links the creators to being in constant change, movement and process. The first production in the series "Utopia" has young people as its target audience. Maja and Toril thought early in the process that the concept could be suitable for kindergartens.
- For children, play is essential, and play is an eternal "not yet", says Maja and adds:
- Playing is a vitally important project.
The tour is supported by Oslo municipality.