Merete Skavlan (25 July 1920 – 2 November 2018) was a Norwegian actress, theater instructor and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

. She was born in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

as a daughter of newspaper editor and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Einar Skavlan Einar Kielland Skavlan (30 July 1882 – 16 August 1954) was a Norwegian journalist, newspaper editor, theatre critic and theatre director. Biography Skavlan was born in Frogn. His father, Olaf Skavlan, was writer, literary historian and prof ...

and music educator Margrethe Bartholdy. She was a granddaughter of literary historian Olaf Skavlan. She was involved in resistance work during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and joined the unofficial " Stanislavskij Group" in 1943. The members of this group founded

Studioteatret Studioteatret was a theatre in Norway. It opened in 1945, shortly after the liberation, with Claes Gill as its first theatre director. Studioteatret is regarded as one of the earliest post-war artistic expressions in Norway, and most of its member ...

, and she made her debut at Studioteatret's first performance in 1945, in a translation of Wilder's play ''

The Long Christmas Dinner ''The Long Christmas Dinner'' is a play in one act written by American novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder in 1931. In its first published form, it was included in the volume ''The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays in One Act''. Charact ...

''. She continued to play for Studioteatret until 1950. Her acting career continued at Det Nye Teater, where she played from 1950 to 1952, at

Folketeatret Folketeateret is a theatre in Oslo, Norway. The building has been used as a movie theatre and as an opera house. The theatre has 1,400 seats. History The theatre itself operated from 1952 to 1959, but the institution has a much longer history. ...

from 1952 to 1959, and at Oslo Nye Teater from 1959 to 1967. During the 1960s she also played for Fjernsynsteatret, with roles such as Angustias in an adaptation of

García Lorca García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pam ...

's ''

The House of Bernarda Alba ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' ( es, La casa de Bernarda Alba) is a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. Commentators have often grouped it with ''Blood Wedding'' and ''Yerma'' as a "rural trilogy". Garcia Lorca did not include ...

'', and as Missis Smith in Ionesco's ''

The Bald Soprano ''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at the ...

''. She started working as a theatre instructor, and has participated on productions at

Riksteatret Riksteatret (English: National Traveling Theater) is a Norwegian touring theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or ima ...

, the National Theatre,

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ( en, Norwegian Theater)Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabl ...

and Fjernsynsteatret. Her debut as producer was an adaptation for television of Baroness Emma Orczy's novel

The Scarlet Pimpernel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...

, for Fjernsynsteatret in 1968. Her debut as stage producer was an adaptation of

Bill Naughton William John Francis Naughton (12 June 1910 – 9 January 1992) was an Irish-born British playwright and author, best known for his play '' Alfie''. Early life Born into relative poverty in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland, he moved to Bo ...

's play '' Spring and Port Wine'', for

in 1969. She also lectured at the

Norwegian National Academy of Theatre The Oslo National Academy of the Arts ( no, Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, ''KHiO'') is a university college in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts. It is one of two public institutes of higher learning in ...

. From 1984 to 1990 she was employed at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation as head of

Radioteatret Radioteatret is a department of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation which produces audio plays for radio broadcasting. It was established in 1927. In January 2021, ''Verdens Gang'' cited a report from NTB, saying that Radioteatret ow isbeing ...

. She started the independent theatre group Intimteatret in 1991, together with

Gerhard Knoop Gerhard Herman Knoop (3 November 1920 – 25 October 2009) was a Norwegian actor, stage producer and theatre director. Early and personal life Knoop was born in Kristiania (present-day Oslo), the son of Herman Waldemar Knoop (1887–1961) a ...

. Skavlan was also a board member of ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newspa ...

'' from 1960 to 1974, and subsequently sat on the supervisory council. She died in November 2018 at the age of 98.Merete Skavlan death notice
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skavlan, Merete 1920 births 2018 deaths Actresses from Oslo Dagbladet people Female resistance members of World War II NRK people Norwegian resistance members Norwegian stage actresses Norwegian theatre directors Norwegian women in World War II 20th-century Norwegian women