Every second summer since 1998, professional actors, directors, producers, musicians and artists from Norway and around the world have cooperated with local young people to create open-air theatre in the fields around the the Sami crofter’s cottage in Kjelvik.
Kjelvik 2024
The next play will take place on the following dates:
5st July 2024, at 16:00
6st July 2024, at 16:00
7st July 2024, at 12:00
There will be a small marked where you can buy food, drinks and souvenirs before and after the play.
Tickets:
Adults: 250,-
Children (16 years and younger): 100,-
Information on how to purchase tickets coming soon!
Kjelvik is situated just off European Route 6, and is 56 km north of Fauske, and 4 km south of Kobbelv. For a relevant map, click HERE.
Kjelvikspillet is an open-air play, access to which requires walking through a wooded path. Please wear appropriate footwear and clothing. We also recommend that you bring a sitting mat.
Kjelvikspillet 2024 builds on the principles of Commedia Dell'arte. A non-Norwegian speaking audience will be able to follow and understand the action. A sheet that gives a short explanation to the different scenes in English will be available on site.
The path to the farm is accessible for wheelchair users. However, if you need special assistance, please get in touch with us at least a week before the play.
Background
The very first Kjelvik play was staged the summer of 1998 by the independent theatre group Uendelig Teater (Infinite Theatre), with Maja Zakariassen and Anita Basmo Bjørnstad.
Until 2011, different versions of the play “Synger noen, er det bare viden” (‘’If someone sings, it’s only the wind’’), were presented. The play, written by Kamilla S. Mathisen deals with local folk beliefs, invisible creatures and strange forces dwelling in the area around the crofter’s cottage.
SINCE 2011, the following plays have been staged:
- 2011: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare
- 2013 “The The Good Person of Szechwan” by Bertold Brecht
- 2015: “The Princess who Walked to the Center of the Earth” by Regine Nordmann, with a new script by Lina Killingdalen.
- 2017 and 2019: “The Epic Tale of Robin Hood” written for Kjelvikspillet by Mats Holm.
By 2020 we were ready to go back to our roots. We are currently in the process of creating a brand new play, based on local Sami and Norwegian stories and folk beliefs. This is a 12-year long, workshop based collaboration between professional artists and local young people. In 2019 we presented a pilot, where a few scenes where played for an invited test audience. While in 2022, our focus was on the accompanying music and development of the characters of the play.
Click HERE for photos from previous plays.
Method
The first plays in Kjelvik led to the formation of a youth group within “Uendelig teater”. This group existed from 1998 to 2003. Several of the members are today working in different fields of the arts. Many of them still take part in Kjelvikspillet. The fact that these people come back; artists that at a young age felt the value of working within a professional environment, and were taken seriously as participators and creators from an early age, is of great value to us.
When young people participate side-by-side with professionals, they bring their own unique attributes to bear on the project.
The open-air theatre in Kjelvik enables the acquisition of new knowledge, not only for the young amateurs, but also for the professional artists with whom they collaborate.
Our goal is that the professionals and young people that work together obtain a common artistic language and expression. To accomplish this, the professional artists need to work seriously with their younger colleagues, and allow them to get a full insight into their own process for mutual learning and development. We also have high expectations of the young participants as regards what they put into the production.
