Sudden death is a catch-all within the sport. When the result is tied, the playing time is over and one must have a winner, then one plays until the score comes. Abrupt and brutal. Of course, the term also means something else: Sudden death. I don’t think about that much when I’m sitting in the theater and a tennis-clad shoe player enters the stage through a glittering curtain. With his hands full of tins and drink bottles, he is tempted to switch off the long-lasting mobile phone in his pocket – with his elbow. GAME ON: “Sudden death” starts at tennis practice, but something is wrong. And then it becomes fun. From left: Oddgeir Thune and Kyrre Hellum. Photo: Dag Jenssen Things that rub It turns out that Han (Kyrre Hellum) ran over a cat on the way to training. Or half the cat, as he himself thinks it was. Does it do anything? Maybe not. What is he going to do with it? Nice little. But it still rubbed in him – nicely shown through the water bottle, which does not contain water, but something that can resemble blood. Or a bad, bad smoothie. The training continues, he and his mate (Oddgeir Thune) naturally talk about the cat, about responsibility, about life. Then Ho, who is single, enters (Marie Blokhus). And she misses a cat. LUCKY CAT: Marie Blokhus changes the balance in tennis training when she comes in looking for the cat. What she doesn’t know is that he is dead. Maybe. From left: Oddgeir Thune, Kyrre Hellum and Marie Blokhus. Photo: Dag Jenssen Kattejakt Playwright Petter S. Rosenlund (“Kampen om tungvannet” and “Hamilton”) has written a very good theater text. Linguistically as bouncy as life in a forest in spring, thematically close to the embarrassment in people, satirically exuberant and sharp. In the center stands the hit-and-run cat – or rather: What he is a symbol of, what he generates. Of excuses, denial, search actions, hopes and lies. A kind of procrastination of the truth, or how one prepares to tell one’s own story when the truth becomes too ugly. NEKTAR: Instead of admitting that he ran over the cat, Han (Kyrre Hellum) starts a Facebook campaign and gets 800 people to show up for the search. Photo: Dag Jenssen Linking Rosenlund’s text to director Sigurd Ziegler is a good choice. In this vision, Ziegler picks out details that are important – such as the water bottle with blood in it, an example of guilt that one is tempted to hide. But a blood stain on a white tennis cloth does not go away so easily. In addition, he makes the humor in the text disappear. Then the problem around the missing, half (or completely) dead cat becomes a theater about why you turn your eyes away when reality is standing there staring you in the eye. Why it’s easier to tell your own truth sometimes. And further: What does it do to us as citizens of the world. I could quite wish that some text passages did not disappear in hectic tennis playing, but at the same time “Sudden death” is so well played that it is quickly forgotten. Marie Blokhus plays a very good role as Ho, who is single. Especially the one monologue about loneliness and how to deal with the fact that the cat has found a lover, is so controlled and at the same time so full of alternating feelings that the performance is worth a little lucky cat in itself. WHO IS THE CAT? There is a search with lights, lanterns and shouting for the cat that is awake in “Sudden death”. One of the three knows what happened. But he does not want to tell that story. Back: Kyrre Hellum and Marie Blokhus. In front: Oddgeir Thune. Photo: Dag Jenssen Nøydd or truth There are few who escaped in “Sudden death”, because the satire is so common. Rosenlund writes well about all the strange detours people take – and live well with – in order not to be caught by the truth. And when the text suddenly turns, you are taken in by what is at the core: the urge to be part of a larger narrative. Cost what it will cost. Truth or dare. TENNIS: A training session is the setting for the play “Sudden death”. But it’s actually about daring to see the world without a filter. From left: Oddgeir Thune and Kyrre Hellum. Photo: Dag Jenssen What do you not do to find a cat? What do you not do to hide that you have done something wrong? What does one not do to pretend that everything is ok? What does one not do for a person in need? Just like that, Thune, Blokhus and Hellum play out well and amusingly on Stage 3 at the Norske Teatret. A foresight that is easy to recommend – if you can handle the thought of a cat being hit. news reviews Photo: Det Norske Teatret Title: “Sudden Death” By: Petter S. Rosenlund Place: Det Norske Teatret Director: Sigurd Ziegler Visually responsible: Norunn Standal Skodesplayers: Oddgeir Thune, Kyrre Hellum, Christian Ruud Kallum, Marie Blokhus Date: 25 May-13 June 2023
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“Sudden death” at the Norwegian Theater – Reviews and recommendations
