Viggo Venneløs is an improv comedy-storytelling performance without speaking that is about being alone in life.
Viggo Venn leads the show, Viggo Venneløs , and travels to different high schools and puts on the performance in collaboration with Den kulturellter skolesekken. This is a perspective from the performance he gave at St. Hallvard.
All the students at St. Hallvard were placed in their seats before an English-speaking man came and looked at the audience. He could see that we might not be the most exciting audience in the world. Young people with completely dead faces who sit and pick their noses, while they are just waiting to take pictures with a “celebrity”, are not exactly the best you can get. Already then the magic begins, the English-speaking man raises his arms and shouts out some “hoo” or other and gets the school to respond with “haa” a few times. Now at least the smiles are starting to come into place. He shouts out “Here is VIGGO VENN” (or similar), then you start to see Viggo’s arms and fingers fluttering around behind the surprisingly nice scenography of a clown show, and out comes Viggo waltzing around.
The main part of the stage is a tiny kitchen table with an extremely nice clock. He does a long waltz with himself around the audience and when the music stops the energy level starts to go up. He raises his arms and asks for applause, they quickly bring them down again, then quickly up, down, up. Over and over. For something so repetitive it really sets a good mood in the audience. It goes from “ we have homework tomorrow” to “FY FADER BOYS, WHEN ARE WE OUT ROLLING”. The applause is thunderous, and it almost seems like a competition to see who can cheer the loudest. Now the show is on!
When I went and got ready for a Viggo Venn show, I expected three specific things. Clown dancing, loud pop music and last but not least, a reflective vest. Here, none of the expectations were met! Viggo threw away his familiar image and made the show something completely new. He had a few small references to, for example, the reflective vest he is known for, but nothing that changed the story he was telling.
The story was quite simple. It's straight forward about a man who is lonely and looking for his great love through a picture frame he has on the wall. He uses the story to bring people on stage. For example, he stole the jacket of a boy in the audience, this boy started running after him. A bit reminiscent of Tom and Jerry. He gave the microphone to another boy, so that every time he opened a door, kissed in the air and someone rang the bell, the boy had to make the sounds for him. This was probably the part of the play that got a little too repetitive. It would have been fun if they could have experimented with even more sounds, or possibly started with the sound creation a little later.
What really made my heart burn for the show was his inclusion. If there was one thing that was absolutely perfect, it was this. Everyone, regardless of age, appearance, gender, mental or physical problems, was included. He was not afraid of anyone. Older teachers joined in dancing and students who were “too cool to react” were included in mini-sketches. Throughout the show, the “Viggo Venneløs” character drifted and tried to get tips for love from a girl with a disability who was standing on the side, a good distance away from everyone else. She was so happy that she couldn’t stand still.
“One more time” was what I thought when I left the performance. It could have been longer, there was a lot here that could have been explored more. If the show had been about 20 minutes longer, this would probably have been my favorite performance so far this year. I also saw that this had made a good impression on everyone else who was watching. The girls couldn’t stop talking about how handsome he was, and the boys were of course jealous, but extremely “hyped”. You were allowed to take pictures with Viggo afterwards, here he really acted like everyone’s good friend. This is something I think counts as much as the performance itself. When you become “friends” with the performer, you also feel closer to the play you were watching. He reminded me a bit of a classic local kebab shop owner who you are always friends with even if you don’t know him that well. All in all, I see this as a performance that creates joy and a good atmosphere with humor and a little hint of strong emotions.
