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Bird in Magic Rain with Tears

Bird in Magic Rain with Tears (2011) is a theatre production by Winter Guests/Alan Lucien Øyen.

This is what BIT Teatergarasjen wrote in its program for the Meteor Festival 2011:

"One week after winter guests and Alan Øyen delivered the project description for the production Bird in Magic Rain with Tears based on myths surrounding the financier John Fredriksen, the company filled the full front page of Bergensavisen. Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation got in, and Finansavisen wrote that 'now Fredriksen's life will be danced!'

However, Alan Øyen had no intention of making any dance production out of Fredriksen's life."

Information

(Objekt ID 17642)
Object type Production
Premiere September 1, 2011
Produced by winter guests
Coproducers Dansens Hus
Audience Adults
Language English
Keywords Theatre, Metatheatre, Drama
Running period September 1, 2011  
Website Winter Guests

Requirements to venue

Blackout Yes
More

Bird in Magic Rain with Tears by Winter Guests is a newly written drama for the actors Huy Le Vo, Andrew Wale and Yvonne Øyen.

The project was under development for almost two years before it was performed publicly, and became mythical before anyone had seen it. When the newspapers called "sources close to Fredriksen" their conclusion was ready: "This will be poor theatre".

At the webpage of Winter Guests one could read the following September 7 2011:
"New two act play for three players by Alan Lucien Øyen and Andrew Wale. Premiere September 1st. 2011 at House of Dance, Oslo - Norway (sic: Dansens Hus uses the name Dansens Hus in English as well as Norwegian).

From the play currently in writing:
'Hello YouTube! Only a short message for now. I haven't managed to get much further in the case... if you wish. I've been busy... doing other things... for those of you who follow my other blog, or otherwise might have recognised my face from some of the other sites... of which I will not mention here - you know where I'm talking about... ehmm just don't believe everything you read all right? Especially not the comments posted...because that's just bull-shit. Anyway... I just wanted to tell you that...and yeah... I think I managed to find some angle or maybe not an angle, I just trying to get to the truth here. Get to the bottom. Anyway. There's this someone... a person... who might just be able to assist me... To be continued'..."

At the webpage of Winter Guests one could read the following April 22 2011:

"Essentially a piece about longing and coming to terms with one's current situation or predicament, Bird in Magic Rain with Tears centres around three characters whose fates are, more or less, coincidentally intertwined:

A conceptual artist trying to get past the death of her son. A boy-prostitute vainly looking to find the truth about his past. A terminally ill businessman longing for the love his marriage could never provide.

The starting point for the play was a dark chapter in the biography Storeulv ("Big-wolf), about real-life Norwegian tanker mogul John Fredriksen. The project therefore received a lot of attention from the media, even before work was started on the production.

Eventually the true story of Fredriksen's past became part of the play that very much raises questions regarding facts and fiction and how we present and stage our lives.

What are the truths about ourselves and our past?"

Supported by: Arts Council Norway, City of Bergen.

Sources:

BIT Teatergarasjen, METEOR 2011. 07.09.2011: http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no/article/425

Winter Guests, winterguests.com, 07.09.2011: http://www.winterguests.com/theatre/bird-in-magic-rain

Contributors (11)
Name Role
Andrew Wale – Script
Alan Lucien Øyen – Script
Alan Lucien Øyen – Direction
Martin Flack – Video/Film
Alan Lucien Øyen – Video/Film
Gunnar Innvær – Sound design
Torkel Skjærven – Lighting design
Huy Le Vo – Actor
Andrew Wale – Actor
Yvonne Øyen – Actor
Gunn Hernes – Producer
Performance dates
February 21, 2013Terrace Theater, Nordic Cool 2013 Show
February 20, 2013Terrace Theater, Nordic Cool 2013 New opening
October 26, 2011 19:00 – Studio Bergen, Carte Blanche Show
October 25, 2011 19:00 – Studio Bergen, Carte Blanche Show
September 4, 2011Hovedscenen, Dansens Hus Show
September 3, 2011Hovedscenen, Dansens Hus Show
September 2, 2011Hovedscenen, Dansens Hus Show
September 1, 2011Hovedscenen, Dansens Hus Worldwide premiere
Festivals (2)
Nordic Cool 2013 February 20, 2013
METEOR October 25, 2011
Press coverage

Inger-Margrethe Lunde, 03.09.2011, OsloPuls Aftenposten [Oslo]:
"Alan Lucien Øyen takes our breaths away with his new piece. Not only does the performance make an impression: The playwright, dancer, choreographer and instructor Alan Lucien Øyen seems to be totally unmoved by and free of the conventions Norwegian talking theatre struggles with."

Karen Frøsland Nystøl, 02.09.2011, Kulturnytt NRK [Oslo]:
"What was supposed to be innovative dance about the shipping magnate and John Fredriksen, became theatre instead. Someplace along the road something disappeared. The play Bird in Magic Rain with Tears is one-dimensional - not bad, just one-dimensional."