A playful interaction met with giggles and "aww"

Harmonious collaboration between live music, children's theater and illustration. Where should you look when theater, animation and concert are playing at the same time? In this performance, you don't have to worry.

The Sound of the Forest is a 40-minute concert theater performance. Parents came with children between 3 and 10 years old.

When we first entered the Peer Gynt Hall in Grieghallen, we saw four musicians on one side of the room. They were making sounds from different instruments, some from ordinary objects like corks and others from musical instruments. Seat cushions lay in the center of the room, surrounded by various objects such as rulers and stones.

Fascinating framing makes all artists and elements visible

After a while of just music, an actress came with a feather duster and dusted off the audience. She walked around the room. When she finished, she introduced herself and the musicians, and the story began. After the introduction, the animation began, and throughout the story the rest of the characters were introduced.

We had plenty of time to meet all parts of the performance: music, illustration and theater. We also had the opportunity to get to know all the artists.

The framing here is both effective and fun. The interaction makes the experience more engaging for the audience. The introduction helps the youngest to understand who everyone is.

History and music complement each other

Music is central to the performance. The Sound of the Forest tells a story in which the sound of the forest is collected, analyzed, played and exhibited. Instead of music as a background, the music lives its own life in the performance.

When the character T-Sound arrives at the Sound of the Forest Museum, music plays as he walks to different objects. Without sound, the story wouldn't make sense. Having a story also makes the music more accessible to everyone. Instead of listening to the music for 40 minutes, the audience has other artistic expressions to look at.

You don't have to worry because all the elements tell the same story. The most important thing is that the narrative is musical, which gives visual elements a plus, but not necessary role. This gives the audience greater freedom to look at different things.

There's nothing better than watching artists play and enjoy themselves

The main characters T-Sound and Boss both have very physical expressions. One of my favorite scenes is when T-Sound leaves his home with a bicycle. He's completely serious, but his body is very comical with big movements. His shoulders are pushed down a lot and his elbows are wide open to the sides. Then all the children in the hall were really fascinated.

Although it is "The Sound of the Forest", the musicians and composers played sounds with artistic interpretation rather than realistic sounds. For example, the sound of mushrooms was made mostly by marimba. This makes the performance more imaginative, although the link between sound and object can sometimes be unclear.

After the performance, the musicians stayed in the hall and showed off to the curious in the audience. Next to me was a fascinated child who asked what everything was. The musicians were patient and explained everything thoroughly.

There is little to criticize in this production, but I reacted to two things: The language that people speak in the US was introduced as American. I think this is unrealistic, after all the language is English, even though the speakers are from the USA.

In addition, the ending felt incomplete, especially compared to the rest of the performance. The actor had to say to everyone that: "that's all we had". If the audience doesn't understand the ending, you might want to consider a more organic ending.

All in all, the experience is entertaining and imaginative

The sound of the forest is best suited to children of kindergarten age, who have shorter attention spans. They enjoyed the performance the most. The story is easy to understand, but it is told with playful artists from different disciplines.

The music, the giggling and the "aww" sounds in the hall make me happy. This is the sound of our forest - a joyful, fascinating and magical forest.

All photos: FIB/Thor Brødreskift