Radioteatret is a department of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...

which produces audio plays for radio broadcasting. It was established in 1927. In January 2021, ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

'' cited a report from NTB, saying that Radioteatret ow isbeing decommissioned; furthermore "the theatre will get a new life as podcast".

Directors

Its first

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

was Gunnar Neels-Hansson, who headed the theatre until 1950. Later directors have been Jens Gunderssen from 1950 to 1952, Hans Heiberg from 1952 to 1973, and Gerhard Knoop from 1973 to 1984.

Merete Skavlan Merete Skavlan (25 July 1920 – 2 November 2018) was a Norwegian actress, theater instructor and director. She was born in Kristiania as a daughter of newspaper editor and theatre director Einar Skavlan and music educator Margrethe Bartholdy. ...

headed the theatre from 1984 to 1991, and Nils Kristian Heyerdahl from 1991.

Early history

The private company

Kringkastingsselskapet Kringkastingsselskapet A/S ("The Broadcasting Company") was Norway's first radio broadcasting service and operated out of Oslo from 1925 until 1933, when it was taken over by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). History The Norwegian Tel ...

started broadcasting in Norway in 1925. When the state-owned

(NRK) was formed in 1933, most of the administration was transferred to NRK, including the music and theatre departments. In 1925 and 1926, broadcast drama consisted mostly of pure reciting from the drama literature. The first proper audio play was a translation of the classic play ''Light and Shade'' by

L. du Garde Peach Lawrence du Garde Peach (14 February 1890 – 31 December 1974), who wrote under the name L. du Garde Peach, was an English author and playwright for radio, stage, and screen. He is probably best remembered as the author of over thirty works ...

, which was sent in March 1926. The first Norwegian proper ''audio'' play was Per Jespersen's sketch ''Hvem har telefonert?'' from March 1927, while the second was ''Luftreisen'' by Peter Lykke-Seest. In addition to specially written audio plays, also ordinary plays were adapted for radio. In 1927 reciter Gunnar Neels-Hansson was appointed as leader of the drama production, the first theatre director. Among the productions from 1927 were ''Ervingen'' by

Ivar Aasen Ivar Andreas Aasen (; 5 August 1813 – 23 September 1896) was a Norwegian philologist, lexicographer, playwright, and poet. He is best known for having assembled one of the two official written versions of the Norwegian language, Nynorsk, from v ...

, ''Jeppe'' by

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...

and

Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish people, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote mo ...

's ''Dødsdansen''. The first productions were sent live. One of the challenges was the logistics when many actors had to share the same microphone. Another challenge was the sound effects, which were often improvised by the technicians. From 1934 special instruments were made for sound effects. The number of productions were about 20 per year in the late 1920s.

References

{{NRK Theatres in Norway Performing groups established in 1927 NRK 1927 establishments in Norway