Warm feelings and uncertainty

Warm milk with honey is a short but comprehensive life story about fragile love.

By Henrik Refsnes 17 years
Mentor for the editorial team: Hedda Fredly

In this play you get to know Oda (Tora Dietrichson) and Ronja (Maiken Schjøll Frisch), who you follow closely throughout the play. You get to hear their story, which started unexpectedly for everyone. It starts the morning after an evening of heavy drinking. Oda and Ronja are both very surprised when they wake up and see that they are lying next to each other in bed.

It turns out that what seemed to be something small turned out to be something big.

Warm milk with honey is a very intense and exciting performance that reflects the everyday life of Oda and Ronja. You felt so much a part of the play at times that you were almost a little embarrassed. They show very well that being queer doesn't mean anything. Even though it's about a lesbian couple, the experiences in the relationship seem so universal that it's not perceived as "queer themes".

They fall into an overwhelming love affair, which abruptly ends when one of them makes a mistake and the story has a turning point. It doesn't take long before they long for each other again, and decide to give their relationship another chance. As the years go by, they have a child, argue about household chores and experience how emotional menopause can make you. Finally, they share one last cup of warm milk with honey.

"I thought this was a very exciting and educational play. The tension was there from the first second, and it only got bigger. You couldn't take your eyes off it and at times you tried to avoid blinking, so as not to miss anything. The hall was full of laughter and energy. You could even see that the actors had to laugh a little at times too. You could really feel the heat of a full hall - even so physically hot that it was uncomfortable to sit down at times.

The fact that they had different light settings, made effective use of few props, and had good fluency in pronunciation and language made it easier to distinguish the scenes from each other, follow the action and get a concrete picture of each scene. Technical problems meant that the sound of the actors was disconnected when the music came on, which meant that it was difficult to hear what was being said.

But apart from this detail, Warm Milk with Honey is a realistic preconception that makes being queer an everyday occurrence. It's true that there is an element of incitement, but I interpret it as just Oda and Ronja's insecure thoughts and feelings.

Warm milk with honey - Participants:

Actors: Tora Dietrichson and Maiken Schjøll Frisch
Directed by: Kristi-Helene Engeberg and Maiken Schjøll Frisch
Music: Tora Dahle Aagård
Screenplay: Maiken Schjøll Frisch
Producers: Andrea Therese, Maiken Schjøll Frisch and Kristi-Helene Engeberg

Photo: Madan Gaurav