The end of all that was

In connection with Fredrikstad's 450th anniversary, Østfold Kulturutvikling arranged U-festival, a free outdoor festival with a broad cultural program at the end of April. Professional critics from the national press gave the students an intensive course in how to be a critic, and what the students learned on the course and experienced at Ufestival formed the basis for the exam paper they wrote in spring 2017.

Class 10 at Bergby Ungdomsskole reviewed NIE's performance The end of all that wasand here you can read four different reviews of it.

A monotonous trip through life during World War II

"The end of all that was", a play staged and performed by Teater NiE. The actors take us back to the Second World War, where we follow the life of the six-year-old girl, Agatha. It all starts in her house in Berlin, where we are introduced to her family. Early on in the play, Agatha is sent to London by Kindertransport. On the train, she eats her ticket with all the information about herself, and the audience follows her through her childhood, and gets to see how Agatha copes, without even knowing quite who she is.

For me, this piece was very straightforward and therefore boring. The performance didn't have a clear tension curve, and can leave you waiting for something to happen all the time. But, despite the play being a little slow, it wasn't joyless. There was a lot of talk about family and music and the play had some good input from Meta Theater. This gave the play a little more glow.

One good thing about the lack of suspense was that the action was more apparent. I quickly understood what the play was about, and it wasn't difficult to follow what was happening on stage. The actors often used ringing bells in the play, which was probably used as a symbol for something, but it was somewhat difficult to interpret. Still, it didn't make any difference and probably didn't cause any confusion.

This play is probably best suited for adults, as I believe that young people need a little more speed and excitement on stage to be engaged and to enjoy good theater art.

- Johanna Kristina

 

Review of "The end of all that was" by teater NIE

Alarm clocks ring in the first act, and time is turned back to 1939. I am in Berlin. In front of me is Agata, 6 years old, Jewish.

The scene is simple. Black backdrop, few sets. Actually quite empty, but not a problem. On the contrary, the focus is placed more on the actors and the story itself. The spotlight casts the unimportant in shadows and it becomes difficult to tear your eyes away from the characters. -I don't want to do that either.

The scenes, some more than others, appear messy and characterized by chaos. Exhausting, you might say, but for me a clear picture of Agata's life. In the middle of Berlin, the little girl lives in a bubble created by her family, but not everything can be shut out. The fact that the theater takes place in several languages, combined with chaos, can make it difficult to understand certain phrases and sentences, but it is certainly an important part of the play. Not only do German words give us the feeling of being in Berlin, but there were things I didn't understand, maybe the way Agata doesn't understand.

Her grandfather tells her that it's not safe for Meloch, her teddy bear, in Berlin anymore. Meloch has to travel, by train, to London, but he can't travel alone... -And so Agata's own future is presented to her. She is going to join her teddy bear.

In the middle of the simple stage stands a cupboard, which throughout the story serves as a wardrobe, an elevator and a train. -It follows Agata all the way. Perhaps it's a symbol of everything she carries with her - her religion and the hatred stuck to it, ignorance and confusion. Even what she doesn't understand is part of her. The closet is part of everything, and follows on. That's how I also see the teddy bear, Meloch, as a symbol. Because as it has been handed down, hatred of Jews has followed generation after generation.

Agata, along with Meloch, is put on the train to London and becomes part of the famous Kindertransport. On the tag around her neck is her number. The number that would be her new life in safety, if only she hadn't eaten it...

Comical and brutal at the same time. The actors grab the audience and keep their grip. The character sneaks up on me and I have to feel. -Chaos, calm, despair and the brutal reality. On top of that, meta-comments include us in the performance itself, and are part of the comic touch. The fact that the characters play music helps to set the mood, but perhaps even more so, it fills the auditorium with Agata's emotions.

The change between the acts is marked by the ringing of alarm clocks. This is how I imagine they will wake us up, removing the illusion of a good world. After acts where we, together with Agata, feel glimpses of security and joy, the bells become extra clear. They won't let me fall asleep in anticipation of a happy ending. And a happy ending it is not. Many years later, Agata finally gets the opportunity to go home. Believing that she will be reunited with her family, she finds herself back in Berlin, in her old home. The bells are ringing. The last act is over.

In a comical and brutal way, throughout the play I was trapped in a reality that is not my own, a reality that hit with great force.

- Johanna Maria

 

"The end of all that was" (NIE 2017)

Agata is 6 years old when she has to leave her music-loving family at home in Berlin. A major war is approaching, and children are being transported across the border to England for safety. During the train ride, she eats the ticket hanging around her neck, making it difficult to find her new parents in England. After a short stay there, she follows a train to Wales where she gets to know a nice family that welcomes her. After the war is over, she travels home to Berlin, but there is no longer what she hoped for.

The colorful drama deals with the Kindertransport and the Holocaust through an interesting story, where we get to know characters with different language and behavior.

I think the play is made to entertain, but at the same time show what the circumstances were like under Hitler's Nazi regime.

The play is made up of dialogues between the actors, where we get to know who they are. Occasionally, the actors also turn to the audience and continue the story. Sometimes they also make meta-comments and comment on their own performance. This, in addition to the fact that they speak different languages, spices up the performance and makes it more interesting.

There isn't much change of scenery, and the background is dark. This makes the scene a bit monotonous and boring. The closet, which is featured throughout the play, is an important part, and it has many different roles. It switches between being a closet, an elevator, a train and a bed.

The abrupt ending makes you reflect on what really happened to her family and think about what we have previously learned about World War II.

I found the performance interesting in many ways, but at the same time a little strange and at times a little too exaggerated. This is a play that I think may be better suited for adults who are somewhat familiar with the drama genre.

- Jorgen

 

New production from NIE theater

The end of all that was is an innovative play that brings back a somewhat forgotten chapter from the 1940s.

The play begins the second you enter the auditorium. There are no curtains to hide the actors, who are standing on the edge of the stage when the audience enters. They play a kind of "waiting music", which helps to put the audience in the right mood.

The alarm clocks, which are used throughout the performance, open the ball. Everyone has their own, and soon everyone is ringing in a kind of bell choir. Agatha, aged 6, is woken up from her sleep and starts with a beautifully performed monologue.

It is through Agatha that we get to know her family, a Jewish family in Berlin, just before the outbreak of World War II. NIE (New International Encounter) theater has done a great job in putting a face on the war, and bringing out the people who lived just before and during the war. The fact that it's 6-year-old Agatha who tells the story of the family members, from a father who has everything under control to a mother with hysterical fits, has a great effect.

Agatha is sent on one of the many Kindertransports out of the country. Her journey takes her to the UK and London. Along for the ride is her beloved teddy bear Milosh and a heavy suitcase. On the way to London, she eats the license plate around her neck and loses all her personal information. Things get difficult for Agatha when she arrives in a foreign country with no name and no language to make herself understood.

Sometimes the little magic the group has created is broken, perhaps a little unnecessarily. Father, in particular, sometimes talks more to the audience than to his counterparts. Strictly speaking, it wouldn't have been necessary to involve the spectators in dialogues that are only there to fill the time.

On the other hand, Bror Frans is excellent at balancing communication with the audience and with his colleagues. He has a grateful role as a fast-talking older brother in the middle of puberty. He has a lot of funny lines to play, and you could almost wish for more than the ones that come.

The set design and costumes are simple but effective. You quickly get a sense of the time period. A wardrobe is practically all that is included, apart from a blanket and a chair. The cupboard is in every scene, as a wardrobe, train, boat or bed. The dilapidated wardrobe helps to draw a common thread through the plays, as it is present from start to finish, through many countries and a long period of time.

All the costumes are placed on a clothes rack, clearly visible to the audience. None of the actors ever leave the stage, and there are no long scene changes where the audience has to wait. The actors don't have microphones of any kind, but despite this, it's never difficult to understand what's being said.

The Blue Grotto was perhaps a little too big for the play to be as intimate as it has the potential to be. Sometimes the play is dragged out in places where you would have preferred it to go a little faster, while in other places you are left with big question marks and a desire for more. For example, it's easy to be left with the feeling that we never really get to the bottom of the English foster family. It could well have been left out of the play, or it should have been given even more time, simply to avoid it seeming rushed.

In general, it seems like the actors have to hurry home at the end. Everything happens too fast, and nothing quite hangs together. However, things pick up again with a strong and beautiful ending.

With such a clichéd title, NIE teater has high expectations to fulfill. They manage to do so to a certain extent, even if it seems a little hollow in places. You can also tolerate some downs when the start is at such a high level. The play is definitely recommended to both new and old theatergoers, despite the fact that this production is at a slightly lower level than their previous production Minnenes Museum.

- Carianne

 

Review of NIE's play: "The End of What Was"

Agata is 6 years old and lives in Berlin, Germany, in the 1940s with her family. Agata explains that the family likes to play music together and sometimes have a fun game. Where she is a cop and the others have to hide from her. Grandpa tells Agata that Milosh, Agata's teddy bear, has to go away on the train. Only children can be on the train with the teddy bear, he continues, and Agata signs up to come along. Little does she know that the teddy bear is only being used as an excuse for Agata to join the Kindertransporten, which existed at the time. Kindertransporten were ordinary people who tried to help children before it was too late. The idea was that the children should be safe and not be hit so hard by the war. Agata's father hangs a ticket around her neck before she gets on the train. She is also sternly told that she must take good care of it. The little 6-year-old is sleepy, and as she slowly but surely falls asleep she chews on the precious ticket. By the time she arrives in London, the ticket has been eaten. No one comes to collect Agata. She is left on the train until the inspector and a late family come up to her and ask if her name is Julie. Agata pretends to be Julie and lives with this family for a while. Until one day she has to move on, as all the children in the street she lives in have to flee. She then moves on to Wales where she ends up in an abandoned station.

The Kindertransport, hatred of Jews and World War II are topics that need attention. I dare say that NIE (New International Encounter) brings out the seriousness of the themes, while at the same time performing it in a creative way that arouses interest. Østfold kulturutvikling(www.ostfoldkulturutvikling.no) describes the play as a "lush, playful and musical play about a serious and topical theme". This description is perceived as a very realistic description of this play.

The play is based on a circular composition and uses effects in various forms. The play starts and ends in Berlin. Where they use clocks as a tool. I interpret the clocks as a sign that things around Agata are happening at an extreme speed, even though it feels as if no time has passed. Time is running away from Agata. NIE uses the usual theatrical tools such as music, clowning, tragedy, puppets, song, light and sound - to create a living theater. Music and sound are not electronic. Which makes this piece more special. There is the use of instruments that create effects in the play, such as drum beats that produce sound. They also use monologue as a means of conveying the story that is not acted out and to create flow in the scenes. The characters disappear out of the room naturally as the play unfolds, and new characters enter the scene after some monologue. The prop that played the most central role in the play was the brown cabinet. It was used for several things, such as elevator, train, home, etc. I experienced the closet as a security that was always there. In a way, we got to know it through the play.

The actors paid attention to us as an audience, which created an engagement in the audience. There was the use of meta-commentary, where they commented on themselves in the play. It was as if they were in two places at once and understood how we saw it as an audience. For example, it was said: "We are on a train so we have to do this *raises hand to hold a handle* so they believe *points at the audience*".

"The End of What Was" is a production by actors from different European countries. They use the different languages actively to bring out misunderstandings, contradictions and confusion. NIE uses this tool in all its productions. Agata is played by an actress who has really immersed herself in her role. We get the impression that she doesn't understand everything that's going on, which is normal for a 6-year-old. The lady who plays Agata is probably over 30, but makes us understand that she is a little girl. She has a brother who also plays other roles throughout the play. He is good at involving the audience and people's opinions at the time the action takes place. For example, he plays the conductor and asks everyone in the audience, including Agata, to get on the "special" train, but not the blonde girl in front and him. Through several hints, one can imagine that Agata's family was Jewish, although this is not directly stated. They all have dark hair and names that sound Jewish. The actors have an easily readable body language and play the different roles clearly.

With the black, original theater stage, the action is more concentrated than if there were lots of details on the walls. During the play, they use few sets and everything is always on stage. The scenery and the stage can also be interpreted as a tool. Everything is very simple and basic, as it was for many people during the Second World War. It's a large auditorium, which makes it a little difficult to hear what they're saying from time to time, as they don't have a microphone.

The realistic ending gives us something to think about. There is a great division in the audience, as it feels close for some and distant for others. Some don't care and others empathize with their situation.

The play is written and performed in a clever way. The main character is a small child and the action unfolds around her. The consequences affect the small, innocent, 6-year-old girl. I think this attracts the attention and emotions of many of us. Something that makes us interested in this type of story. Since there is no narrator, the whole thing becomes much more realistic. I would recommend this play to both young people and adults who are a little curious and interested in World War II, but you don't have to be either. I dare to say that this play is suitable for those who generally enjoy watching plays.

- Nora