In between walls of soil, men are striving, struggling and killing for their own survival. The sound of bombs, and shooting makes them shiver. They lean, they climb, they wait. Ready for another message from home, for from their superior, from their enemy or from home. 

 

‘While waiting’ deals with what happened in this Flemish fields that for a short period in history were the center of the world. It wants to to zoom in and zoom out at the same time; to deal with both the concrete everyday situation of the war and at the same take these situations out of there contexts and see how they resonate with our contemporary individual experience.

 

By bringing together different individual stories from different eras and cross-fading them into each other director Øystein Johansen wants to give the first world war an (after)live and see how we can understand this world war, not trough the history books, but trough our own individual experience. He want to explore the potential energy that is stored in this massive event en how this energy can be reactivated and discharged. How does the memory of the first world war stay? How do we relate to this memories that is too big to handle cannot handle? Where can it stay? In a place, a body, a book... 

 

 

Partners: Malpertuis Tielt, Sel kommune, Oppland fylkeskommune

Funded by: Norsk Kulturråd, FFUK, 

 

Performers: Igor Vrebac, Jurrien Remkes, Øystein Johansen, Freek Nieuwdorp

Text: Malmfrid Hallum

Costume design: Kari Wien

Lightdesign: Øyvin Dahle Løype

Dramaturg: Jonas Rutgeerts

Photographer: Kai Øveråsen