Hålogaland Teater is a regional theatre serving the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Nord-Norge Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

, the northernmost of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It got its name after the northernmost county in Norway in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and the Lyng ...

. When established in 1971, it was the first regional theatre in Norway and the first professional theatre in Nord-Norge. Many of its productions are staged in the regional Norwegian

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

s. Although based in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

in the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

, where it occupies a modern purpose-built building, the theatre also tours the surrounding rural areas. The varied schedule includes a mixture of genres, contemporary and classic drama, and

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

and

children's theatre Children's theatre is a theatre for younger audiences. Children's Theatre or Children's Theater may also refer to: * Theatre for Early Years, blanket term for theatrical events designed for audiences of pre-school children * Youth Theatre Individ ...

History

Lars Berg (1901–1969) a local-based novelist, short story writer and playwright, had campaigned for a regional theatre since the 1940s. He intended to bring drama in local dialects into the far-flung communities of the region. His vision was realised when the theatre began work, on 15 August 1971. While the first production, ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'' (''Die Dreigroschenoper'') by German composers

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

(1898–1956) and

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

(1900–1950), received positive critical reviews, only 16 people attended the

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

. At the time, the theatre consisted of only 8 actors and two technicians and lacked a permanent home. Early productions tended to highlight political and social issues, but this radical edge faded as the theatre diversified. Originally it operated across all three

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the region, but since the foundation of the

Nordland Teater Nordland Teater is a Norwegian theatre based in Mo i Rana. It was established in 1977 by Norwegian Parliament as the regional theatre for Nordland. Birgitte Strid has been theatre director since 2013. Theatre directors *1979–1986 Collective ...

, it has focused mainly on

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

and

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

. Its first permanent theatre space was found in 1984, at the new

arts centre An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...

(''Kulturhuset'') in Tromsø. In 1986 actor and director Bernhard Ramstad got a job as a theater manager. In 2005, it moved into a new purpose-built theatre building, officially opened by

Queen Sonja of Norway Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen; 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway as the wife of King Harald V. Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relationship a secret due to the ...

on November 5. This building, designed by Vulkan architects, includes three theatre stages, as well as

dressing room Dressing commonly refers to the activity of putting on clothing. Dressing may also refer to: Technique * Dressing (medical), a medical covering for a wound, usually made of cloth * Dressing (knot), the process of arranging a knot * Dressing, the ...

s, workshops, and public spaces, a vast improvement on previous homes, which have included a disused margarine factory. The building is located in the harbor area. which is experiencing urban development and transformation. Its facade is made from dark engobed Dutch bricks glazed with blue and silver. The main structure of the building was made from reinforced concrete. As of 2005, the theatre has around 50 employees, including technical, administrative, and artistic workers, and a mixture of young and established actors. One of the theater's biggest successes was a full-length piece about the northern Norwegian village hero Oluf Rallkattli written and portrayed by Arthur Arntzen. This became the theater's greatest audience success. Arntzen repeated the success of a new performance in 1996. The show was played for a whole year and ended at

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

in April 1997. The theater was selected as the

millennium site A millennium site () is a site selected by a Norwegian municipality or county municipality to mark the transition to the 2000s. In Norway it was decided that the counties and municipalities would choose one millennium site for each county and m ...

for Troms county. The sculpture of "The seven Muses and the theater mascots" by Inghild Karlsen and Bo Bisgaard stands right by the main entrance of the theatre.

Gallery

Hålogaland Teater 3.jpg, Theater Eastern façade Hålogaland Teater 6.jpg, Entrance sign Hålogaland Teater 4.jpg, Theater Western façade Hålogaland Teater 5.jpg, Façade bricks

References

Other sources

*Jens Harald Eilertsen (2004) ''Teater utenfor folkeskikken nordnorsk teaterhistorie fra istid til 1971 (Orkana Forlag AS: Stamsund)

External links

* Photographs of the new building, provided by the theatre's website (accessed 12 March 2006)

Homepage
of the theatre (in Norwegian, accessed 12 March 2006)
Aurora, Ice and Ibsen
from the theatre's website (accessed 12 March 2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Halogaland Teater Theatres in Norway Buildings and structures in Tromsø Culture in Troms Culture in Finnmark 1971 establishments in Norway Millennium sites

History

Gallery

See also

References

Other sources

External links