Music for stage and radio

Autumn 2011 I composed and recorded music for the new theatre play ‘Vid din sida’ (By Your side) written by my good friend and great writer Sigmund Løvåsen. The play was staged by Teater Innlandet, a regional theatre in Norway, and it was a huge success with lots of people coming to see it on tour in Hedmark and Oppland counties. Most of the play is situated inside a couple’s home, the only characters are the couple and the man’s daughter. Gradually you understand that the man is getting dementia, and the play is about the male character going backwards in his life, while the two other characters have to move on. I tried to make some music that had something down-to-earth about it, playing with present and past. Here’s a nice promo video from the play:

In 2011 Maja S.K. Ratkje and I made music for the radio play ‘NEID’, based on Elifriede Jelinek’s novel with the same title. The play was 10 episodes each 55 minutes long, and they had quite a lot of music in it. Bayerische Rundfunk was the commissioner, the director was Karl Bruckmaier, and all of the text was read by the actress Sophie Rois. If you have 10 hours to spare and understand some German you might consider listening to it on Bayerische Rundfunk’s web radio.

In 2012 I was approached by another German radio channel, Deutschlandradio Kultur in Berlin, to make music for yet a radio play: Die Leere füllen. Ingo Kottkamp and Ute Bongartz directed the play about the German architect and artist Werner Ruhnau, centering around his work with Yves Klein, especially the building of Theater Gelsenkirchen (1959), as well as Ruhnau’s contribution to the Olympics in Munich 1972: ‘Spielstrasse’, which included performance-artists from all over Europe and Japan. The music for this play was partly based on an excisting tune, but mainly improvised.

Later this year, or next year, a radio version of the theatre play ‘Den andre mannen i meg‘ will be broadcasted on Norwegian national radio. This play is based on the Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge’s diaries. Actor Henrik Mestad will read from the diaries as well as poems, the music is by Trygve Seim and me.

Also for Norwegian national radio, Maja S.K. Ratkje and I will compose and record original music to the radio play ‘Simons historie‘ (Simon’s Story). The story is about a veteran coming home from the war in Afghanistan, and his difficulties in meeting a society that doesn’t want to hear about his experiences or problems. A very strong text, that I hope we can make equally strong music to! This radio play is in one episode and will be broadcasted later this year.

All of this music, except the Hauge piece, is recorded in our home studio here at Svartskog, Norway.