PAHN – Performing Arts Hub Norway will be present at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 20–24 August.
in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy in London and the Consulate General in Edinburgh, PAHN is organising a Norwegian professional programme on 21 August.
Norwegian artists and Scottish cultural partners gather for a three-part programme presenting Norwegian artists, exploring artistic practice, dramatic (playwriting) tradition and future collaborations across the North Sea, ending with a pitch session and networking reception.
The aim is to strengthen artistic exchange between the two countries, create opportunities and collaborations for performing artists from Norway, and, not least, to highlight the Norwegian performing arts field as a whole.
Target groups are Scottish and international programmers, producers and festival representatives, artists and performing arts professionals, relevant UK and international performing arts industry contacts
Date and time
21 august, 10:00 – 13.30
Registration Limited capacity. The event is by invitation only, if you have any questions please reach out to norwayconsgen.edinburgh@gmail.com
09:30–10:00 — Doors open
10:00–10:10 — Talkshow: Welcome & Opening
10:10–10:45 – From Ibsen to New Voices
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Fredrik Brattberg was born in 1978 in Porsgrunn, Norway. His plays have been translated into 20 languages and performed worldwide.
Fredrik Brattberg is a trained composer, which has a strong influence on his writing. He uses constant repetitions and variations – much like in a musical composition – as narrative devices.
Following readings of some of his texts at the Comédie Française and the Théâtre national de la Colline, he was nominated for “Le Prix Godot” in 2016.
He has been nominated three times for the Berliner Festspiele. He was also awarded the Ferdinand Vanek Prize and the Ibsen Prize in 2012.
In 2020, Brattberg was nominated for the Hedda Prize in the Best Playwright category for his play SÜDSEITE.
Brattberg is represented by Colombine Teaterförlag
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Jack Tarlton was born in Edinburgh and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His theatre work includes Daniel (A Play, A Pie and A Pint), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Sheffield Crucible - Nominated for Best Supporting Actor at Broadway World UK Awards), The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Attic Theatre Company), City of Glass (59 Productions, Lyric Hammersmith & HOME, Manchester), BRENDA (HighTide & The Yard), Hedda Gabler (Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh), Pitcairn (Out of Joint, Shakespeare’s Globe & Chichester Festival Theatre), CHORALE – The Animal (You), The Holy Ghostly and The War in Heaven (Presence Theatre & Actors Touring Company), From Morning to Midnight, Coram Boy and Once in a Lifetime (National Theatre), A Doll’s House, Rats’ Tales and She Stoops to Conquer (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Crave, Illusions and The Golden Dragon (Actors Touring Company), Beasts and Beauties (Hampstead Theatre & Bristol Old Vic), The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew (Propeller), The Deep Blue Sea (Bath Theatre Royal & West End), The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents (The Gate), The Man Who (Orange Tree), Gagarin Way (Primecut), Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival Theatre), Afore Night Come (Young Vic), An Inspector Calls (West End), A Month in the Country and Troilus and Cressida (Royal Shakespeare Company). Television includes Outlander, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Traces, 8 Days: To the Moon and Back, Doctors, The Golden Hour, Dead Ringers, Doctor Who, The Genius of Mozart, Swivel on the Tip, Hearts and Bones, Life Support, Wings of Angels and The Cater Street Hangman. Film includes The Imitation Game, Nora and The Unscarred.
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Kari Dickson is an award-winning literary translator from Norwegian. Her work includes crime fiction, literary fiction, children’s books, theatre and non-fiction. She is also an occasional tutor in Norwegian language, literature and translation at the University of Edinburgh, and has worked with British Centre for Literary Translation, the National Centre for Writing and the Translators’ Association.
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Hege Knarvik Sande is the Director of PAHN – Performing Arts Hub Norway, a national competence center that promotes Norwegian performing arts both nationally and internationally. She holds a master’s degree in Theatre Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Oslo. Sande has extensive experience in organizational development and policy advocacy, and in recent years has worked as a cultural leader.
Norwegian theatre has long carried a strong dramatic tradition, often associated with Henrik Ibsen, whose plays reshaped modern European theatre by challenging social norms and structures.
Today, that legacy continues in new and evolving forms. Contemporary playwrights explore structure, repetition and reduction as compositional tools, expanding the language of theatre beyond traditional realism.
This focused segment traces that trajectory — from Ibsen to contemporary voices such as Jon Fosse — and features a conversation with Fredrik Brattberg, whose formally structured and rhythm-driven work represents a new generation of Norwegian playwrighters. The emphasis is not on literary history, but on how dramatic form continues to evolve.
Photo credits:
F. Brattberg: S. A. Löwenborg
Kari Dickson: Kate Griffin
Hege K. Sande: Lillian Hjellum
10:50–11:10
The Illusionist by Fredrik Brattberg. Artistic presentation/reading
Presentation by Jack Tarlton and Giles Croft of the work-in-progress of the new translation by E V Crowe.
11:15–11:50 – Dialogue Across the North Sea
The final part of the programme brings Norwegian and Scottish/UK artists and partners into conversation. With long-standing cultural connections across the North Sea, both countries have developed strong and independent performing arts ecosystems. This dialogue explores shared values, structural differences, opportunities for Scottish and international/Norwegian artists to come together, share ideas, and explore their practices and possible future collaboration
How do our artistic environments support experimentation? What can travel between contexts? Where might new partnerships emerge?
Hege Knarvik Sande, CEO of PAHN, will moderate the talk. More participants TBA.
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Scottish International Storytelling Festival
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival (SISF) gathers leading storytellers and musicians from Scotland and around the world each October, as longer nights invite moments of connection and shared stories inspired by the Scottish cèilidh tradition. From performances and workshops to talks and family events, the festival spreads across Edinburgh, celebrating Scotland’s rich storytelling heritage alongside diverse global voices.
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Imaginate is the national organisation in Scotland, which develops, celebrates and presents theatre and dance for children and young people. They want more children in Scotland to experience work that is deeply engaging, innovative and inspiring and believe and uphold that it is every child's right to develop their creativity, emotional intelligence and reach their true potential. Their vision is driven by the belief that inspiring our young people is essential not only to their individual development but to the development of Scotland and its place in the world. Imaginate produces the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, an annual celebration of exceptional Scottish and international theatre and dance for young audiences, with a focus on performances that are deeply engaging, innovative and inspiring. The Festival is attended by 15,000 children, their teachers and families, as well as artists and professionals from all over the world.
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The mission of Manipulate Arts is to champion, develop and present animated film, puppetry and visual theatre in Scotland and internationally. Formerly known as Puppet Animation Scotland, all of their work is focused around artforms which breathe life into the inanimate or tell stories using primarily images rather than text. Play and manipulation are at the heart of all the work that they champion and support – whether of puppets, objects, digital imagery, or of the human body. The thread between these artforms lies in the opportunities they create to discover the latent magic in the everyday, to find common visual languages beyond the reach of words, and to enable play at all stages of our lives. Manipulate Arts is a home for any artist working with objects, puppets, animated forms and the human body, whatever career stage you are at and whoever you aim to reach with your work.
11:50–12:20 – Meet the Norwegian Artists at Fringe
The programme opens with an introduction to the Norwegian artists currently presenting work at Fringe. Working across theatre, contemporary dance, comedy/stand-up and interdisciplinary performance, the artists share and present themselves.
12:25–13:30 –Networking Reception
Following the two-hour programme, guests are invited to stay for a dedicated networking reception. This informal continuation offers space to deepen conversations, explore co-production possibilities, discuss touring and exchange, and build long-term professional relationships.