Warmth of Arctic voices
The Arctic is more than ice, oil and political documents. The performance “Arctic Voices” by Norwegian Samovarteateret seeks to show the diversity of people living in the north and how High North politics infect their daily lives.
The challenges for people living in border area have been the main inspiration of the Kirkenes based theater group Samovarteateret while developing the performance “Arctic Voices”. A performance which now has been shown both in Norway, Turkey and on several theaters in Russia. Among them in Novodvinsk, Arkhangelsk and St. Petersburg.
- Samovarteateret believes that it is important to create performances that put focus on, or question the time that we live in. We gather ideas and inspiration from international politics, the society around us and people we meet, says the Artistic Director of the Samovartetateret Bente Andersen.
Visual performance
The Norwegian Government has been focusing on High north issues since the early nineties. In light of the political decision to focus on the north, the Samovarteater created Arctic Voices with both idea and script by Andersen.
The performance deals with the people who live in these border areas and how political decisions and strategies influence on their daily lives. This is not a challenge for this region exclusively. There are many border areas in the world where people are affected by the decisions made by politicians.
- The way we have chosen to portray this in the performance is very visual. For instance we show how the changes in the borders in the Barents Region have been made, by drawing a white tape through a dining table where people are eating, says Andersen
“What would you do if someone suddenly drew a border through your living room, even through your dining table, separating you from your family and friends, deciding that you now live in separate countries? And, when you try to visit this new neighbor, you are stopped by a guard demanding that you show a passport?”
Communicating across borders
- It is not up to me to explain to people what they should feel or how they should interpret the performance when they watch it. We have made it with our thoughts and perspectives, and the audience will hopefully go home with their own thoughts and experiences after seeing the performance.
“Arctic Voices” has been performed on large stages and smaller stages, for audiences with some or no understanding of the spoken text, but still the performance has communicated with them.
- The audience relates to the subject matter and are being moved by what happens on the stage. After taking this show out of Kirkenes and out of the Barents Region, we can clearly see that the performance communicates across borders, regardless of language or culture, says Andersen.
