My trip to Norway is complete! Not only did I get to see the amazing performance of Tarjei Sandvik Moe in 20. November twice but I also got to meet him afterwards and chat about the show! Here’s the rundown:
During the very last scene, he asks if anyone has anything to say. In the first performance, no one said anything. So he picks up his bag of weapons and leaves the theatre to devastating effect. So today in the second and perhaps last performance ever, it felt so much more intense. It was a tour de force performance that had me in tears by the end. So when he asked for last words, I spoke up in English, “Don’t do it.” He asked why, and I said “You can still have a first kiss, get a dog, live. It will get better” referencing earlier moments in the play. He responded to the effect of “it doesn’t matter, it’s too late.” It was so powerful. He still left.
So…outside after the play, he first came out still in costume to say bye to some friends in attendance. Then a short time later, our small group still patiently waiting, he came out with a school friend. He saw us, and looked unsure of what to do, walk away in the direction he was going or turn towards us, so I just called out to him “That was an incredible performance. Thank you!” And with that, he turned towards us. Since I spoke entirely in English, he asked if we came from far, and we told him we came from around the world (US, England, Korea, Sweden as well as Norway), and he was genuinely surprised. He asked about our thoughts on the performance, especially since some of us couldn’t understand Norwegian. I told him how his emotion, body language, tics conveyed so much plus I read about it in advance, and he joked about doing homework for the show. We also chatted about his suntan/burn from playing football today. We all took pictures with him. He was gracious and kind. Thank you Tarjei for being amazing. And thanks to my skamily being there with me! @evakcardamom and others!
