April 9, 2025

Young Voices is underway

First meeting with Young Voices – a day for questions, impartiality and discussion.

On Sunday, April 6, the brand new Unge Stemmer editorial team met for the very first time. 7 of the 12 young people from Østfold, Oslo and Drammen gathered at Brageteatret, ready for a year of performing arts, reflection and new perspectives.

Reflection exercises and conversations

Throughout the day, the group received both academic enrichment and practical challenges, from interview techniques and writing assignments to conversations about language, opinions and expression. The critic mentors Per Christian Selmer-Anderssen and Anette Therese Pettersen guided the participants through questions such as: Who are we writing for? What do we want to say? And how?

Criticism, ethics and impartiality

One of the most engaging topics was about impartiality and the critic's ethical responsibility. What happens when the critic knows the person on stage? Is it enough to feel independent if others perceive you as incompetent? And what happens when theaters use quotes from reviews in their marketing, does the critic then have a responsibility for ticket sales? The discussion was lively, and showed that criticism is not only about taste and opinion, but also about trust, credibility and awareness of one's own role.

Criticism as a separate work

At the same time, the group was encouraged to rethink what criticism can be. Anette challenged the notion of the classic review, and showed how a critical response can be both poetic, personal and performative, perhaps as much a work of one's own as an assessment of others.

Towards the end of the day, we saw the Brageteatret family performance Hansel and Gretel and rounded it off as a workshop should: with pizza and lots of thoughts.

Young Voices should not only teach young people how to write criticism, it should be a space where they can develop their own voice, test new forms and dare to say something, loud and clear.

Young voices is supported by the DNB Savings Bank Foundation , and we collaborate with Kloden Teater , Brageteatret and Østfold International Theatre on recruitment, premises and professional content.