Interview with the stars of weed

The last show we see before lunch is Weeds. As we enter the auditorium, there's nothing I want more than to go back out to eat. Just minutes after the show starts, my hunger is gone and my eyes are glued to the stage. Suddenly, the show is over, and as we walk out we ask each other if it really has been 45 minutes. Our curiosity gets the better of us and we decide to talk to the weed gang to find out more about the show.

When we ask them which part of the show they like best, Jonas Heier Straumshaug, who plays a blade of grass, is the first to speak up.
"It's the blade of grass!", says Jonas. Everyone starts laughing. "No, I think the white-collar flower's naivety and courage is the most charming thing." He smiles, jokes and shows great interest in what he's talking about.

"What I like best are the explanations the white-collar flower gets from the straw, and their dialogs. Words and expressions that you actually know are explained in a completely different way. I really like that," says Jo Adrian, the dandelion in the play.

We go on to ask about the personality of the white collar flower. Is there a reason why he appears curious and ignorant?
"It's because he's a child, so he hasn't been told his limitations yet," says Jonas. He talks about how, in his character as a blade of grass, he slowly but surely teaches the white-collar flower about his own limitations.

"He doesn't always realize that he's getting punched in the face, because he doesn't have the references to understand. He's quite sweet," says Jonas, smiling.

One of the themes we perceived during the performance is being different. We therefore wondered if there were any other themes they were trying to convey during the performance.
"It's a kind of outlook on life. If you only live one summer, what are you going to do then? What are you going to achieve in such a short and fragile time?"

They also talk about how such a basic layout can contain so many important themes. How you grow up, that you want to reproduce and that you don't know when you'll die.

"It's kind of life as we humans live it," says Jonas.

Finally, we ask the question that created the most curiosity among us. How did you come up with the idea of using Plants to tell the story?
Mona, who plays Goldilocks, looks at director Kim and smiles. "Kim is the one who wrote it," she says. Kim puts himself in the position of the flower and starts to tell us about how he came up with the idea of weeds.

"What's it like to be a flower?" Kim asked herself as the idea for the show began to take shape. "When I started thinking about it, I thought it must be nice to be a flower. Even if it's nice, it must be scary!" says Kim enthusiastically.

He talks about how the plants can't move or decide simple things like what to wear. "They can't even choose who to reproduce with," Mona comments. The weed gang talks about the comment, and tells us that it's another theme the play addresses.

Later, he says that the whole idea for the play came when he read an article about asparagus feeling stress when cooked. The gang makes various comments and laughs. "Eat it raw" is their solution to the problem.

Text : Hanne Nemeth Lunde , Photo: AKT5