Ulrike Quade/Nordland Visual Theatre/Jo Stromgren Kompani

The Writer wins Audience Award during Bitef Festival 2009 in Serbia!

On September 28th Ulrike Quade is announced that Ulrike Quade has received the Audience Award during the prestigious, international Bitef Festival 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia.

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The Writer

Where does art end and politics begin? And who draws the fine line? A winner of the Nobel Prize for literature finds himself in the white-out isolation of psychiatric scrutiny, accused of national treason. Where did he slip up? After 60 years of hatred, shame and distrust, there has still been no reconciliation.

The life and fate of the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun (1859 – 1953) are similar to those of many other artists who got involved or sympathised with the Nazis before and during World War II. Common to all is the public shift of focus from their artistic work to their role in political issues. As a result, important artistic works have in many cases been forgotten, rejected or ignored by later generations.

In this performance, the controversial writer gets a chance to talk to someone again and is given a final opportunity to express possible regret. He even gets the chance to talk to himself at different ages. How well do they know each other, and who gets the last word? A German student doing research for her thesis may be exactly the catalyst they need to finally agree with each other.

Press excerpts

De Volkskrant, Karin Veraart, **** October 2009

“Quade plays the role of a researcher, who is studying the author for a publication. At the point where she gets stuck in her research, she digs up the little writer from the scenery (she also manipulates the puppets herself), and a little while later his younger alter ego appears as well. And there are many more surprising visual effects which, along with the intriguing facts, make The Writer into a fine and exciting performance.”

Vårt Land, Norway, June 2009
“Ulrike Quades amazing performance makes us completely forget that these puppet-men are not of flesh and blood."

Varden, Norway, June 2009

"The writer is an impressive one woman show, with highly professional puppeteering. ( ...) the kiss between the female student (Quade) and the puppet that portrays the main character in Hunger, must be the most passionate ever exchanged between a human and a puppet on stage."

Lofotenpost, Norway, June 2009

“From start to finish, ’The Writer’ is Ulrike Quade’s showpiece”.

script: Ulrike Quade and Jo Strømgren director and set design: Jo Strømgren puppet design and performer: Ulrike Quade assistant to Ulrike Quade: Maria Landgraf costume design: Atty Kingma lighting design: Stephen Rolfe sound design and technician: Lars Årdal photography: Knut Bry

The Writer is a co-production by Jo Strømgren Kompani, Ulrike Quade Productions and Nordland Visual Theatre

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