Shadow play
Skyggespill is an incredibly fine piece by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, where they have used Verklärte Nacht as a starting point. In this performance, they have used almost no voice. Instead, they have used string instruments such as violin, viola and cello. They use music to bring out the mood, and they use the music to communicate. The fact that the performance is called "shadow play" is not so strange, as shadows are used as a large and important part of the play.
It all starts with a boy walking around on the floor before sitting down on the bed, which is roughly in the middle of the floor. He plays his violin for a while before falling asleep. Then he wakes up again, and now I think he starts dreaming. The boy plays the violin alone, together with shadows and with others who have dressed up as what might be imaginary animals. Shortly after he starts dreaming, he gets scared, and I thought this was a nightmare, but in the end he was happy. This performance is calm, dramatic, scary, exciting, relaxing and happy.
"I think this performance was very nice, and I think it suits the target group, which is 6 to 12 years old. You can see that it's made for children, but I still think it's a performance that's easy to enjoy. Even if you don't like classical music that much, it's still possible to enjoy this. This show is an opportunity to sit back and just enjoy the beautiful, delicious music and the good acting. I certainly recommend it highly.