Christmas evening

This production is about three siblings who have lost their parents. It's Christmas Eve and they live in a run-down and poor boarding house.

One of the sisters tries to get money and comes home with a strange man. She tries to get money from this man, but the others have to go out so they can "talk to each other". Out in the cold, they meet an angel. This is no traditional angel. The angel smokes, is ironic and doesn't have wings that she claims to have put in a clever place.

This is a performance that focuses on what it's like to be alone on Christmas Eve, and how family members can bring us together.

In all three performances, they show three quite different ways of interpreting a script.

The diverse stage had chosen an abstract view of this play. They had a very nice way of distributing the seats on stage so that there was never anyone clumped up in a corner. With the help of lights, the audience knew who the focus was on. They had also chosen to do the play in New Norwegian in the way it had been written.

Bærum Children's Theatre had chosen other ways to implement the script, they had made the environment and the characters realistic and believable. It was clear that they had worked well together because of the chemistry between the actors and the credibility of their voices. As a tool, they used a lot of the props that helped them a lot.

OBUT did a mix of realism and abstract acting. They had also chosen to do the play in New Norwegian. They had a problem with the large number of actors, which they solved in a nice way by adding extra scenes that they had created themselves. They had used lighting and placement on stage as effects, which provided a nice transition when changing scenes.

In conclusion, this is a good play. Even though all three did it in three different ways, you understood what the directors were thinking. The script has a nice message, and I like the way it's written.

I would highly recommend all three of these pieces.

The script for the play is written by Ragnar Hovland.

A review by Tara F. Johnsen

DUS - Den Unge Scenen is a project where professional playwrights deliver new performing arts texts that are interpreted by young people.

Images: Karoline Bjune/Dramatikkens hus