''Nightsongs'' () is a 1997 play by the Norwegian writer
Jon Fosse
Jon Olav Fosse (; born 29 September 1959) is a Norwegian author, translator, and playwright. In 2023, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable."
Fosse's work spans over se ...
. It tells the story of a young couple who just had their first child. The man tries to become a writer but is constantly rejected by publishers while the woman is growing tired of their situation. The play premiered in 1997 at
Rogaland Teater
Rogaland Teater is a theatre in Stavanger, Norway.
Background
The theatre building was built in 1883 on a parcel of '' Kannik prestegård''. It was designed by architect Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff, and initially held close to 500 seats. The buil ...
in
Stavanger
Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...
, directed by Kai Johnsen.
Reception
Hans Rossin of ''
Dagbladet
() is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...
'' compared the play to ''
A Doll's House
''A Doll's House'' (Danish language, Danish and ; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act Play (theatre), play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 De ...
'' by
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
, and wrote: "But in terms of form, this is persistently Fosse. He continues to refine his linguistic minimalism with brief verbality on the surface and depths of emotions and charged situations below. Like earlier pieces, ''Nightsongs'' is also open in the sense that the realism in the texts can be put out as a straight depiction of a town where caricatured tough guys play the lead. Or they can be seen as abrupt and rather anti-realist allegories over human conditions in our time."
of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' reviewed the 2002 performance at the
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...
in London: "The first line of ''Nightsongs'' is to prove eerily prophetic. 'I can't stand it any more. No I can't bear it.' It is a feeling likely to be shared by anyone unlucky enough to sit through this wretchedly pretentious, interminably boring drama by the Norwegian dramatist Jon Fosse. ... The aim of this infuriating piece is presumably to make the audience experience the same emotions as the characters on stage - depression, desperation, a terrible lassitude of spirit. It certainly succeeds, but what a perverse and pointless exercise."
Adaptation
The play was the basis for the 2004 film '. The film was a German production directed by
Romuald Karmakar
Romuald Karmakar (born February 15, 1965) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany as the son of an Indian father of Bengali descent and a French mother. From 1977 to 1982 he lived in Athens. He has ...
and starred
Frank Giering
Frank Giering (23 November 1971 – 23 June 2010) was a German actor.
Biography
Giering studied at the HFF Potsdam. He starred in a production of '' The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole'' and was cast by Austrian filmmaker, Michael Haneke for the ...
and
Anne Ratte-Polle
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...
.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Publicity pageat the Norwegian publisher's website
Publicity pageat the British publisher's website
{{Jon Fosse
1997 plays
Norwegian-language mass media
Plays about writers
Norwegian plays adapted into films
Plays by Jon Fosse