PAHN – Performing Arts Hub Norway presents Performing Arts from Norway and Scotland - Connections Across the North Sea at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026.
In collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy in London and the Consulate General in Edinburgh, PAHN is organising a Norwegian professional programme on 21 August 2026.
Norwegian artists and Scottish cultural partners will gather for a five-part programme featuring presentations of the Norwegian artists, discussions on artistic practice and playwriting traditions, and conversations about future collaborations across the North Sea. The programme concludes with a short pitch session and networking reception.
The aim is to strengthen artistic exchange between Norway and Scotland, create new opportunities and collaborations for Norwegian performing artists, and highlight the breadth and quality of the Norwegian performing arts sector.
Who should attend?
Scottish and international programmers, producers, festival representatives, artists, performing arts professionals, and other relevant UK and international industry contacts.
Date and time
21 August 2026, 10:00–13:30
Registration
Capacity is limited. Attendance is by invitation only. For questions, please contact norwayconsgen.edinburgh@gmail.com
PROGRAM
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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Giles first established himself as a writer and director in Bath and Bristol, before one of his productions transferred to the Lyric, Hammersmith. In 1985 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, London and in 1989 he joined the National Theatre as Literary Manager. In 1995 he returned to the role of artistic director when he moved to the Palace Theatre, Watford. Giles was the Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse from 1999 to 2017.
Giles has directed more than 60 productions and his work has played in London’s West End and on Broadway. During the lockdown of 2020 he directed an audio version of The Understudy by David Nicholls starring Stephen Fry and Russell Tovey; in 2022 his production of The Kite Runner played at The Hayes Theatre, New York; in 2024 The Kite Runner toured in the UK & US and most recently he’s made a short documentary about the composer, John Woolrich. Giles will be touring his one man show Channeling Jabez in 2027.
He is also a playwright and his work has been produced widely in the UK and Europe.
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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.
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Roy Luxford
Creative Director, Edinburgh International Festival
Roy is Creative Director at the Edinburgh International Festival responsible creatively for the annual 25 day multi art-form festival. Prior to Edinburgh he produced theatre and dance internationally at the Barbican London, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, The Young Vic, Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival, Chekhov Festival Moscow, and the Venice Biennale amongst others.He led three of the UK’s foremost producing companies Cheek by Jowl, Michael Clark Company, and DV8 Physical Theatre, and produced the European premiere of Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul in London and Tim Supple’s version of One Thousand and One Nights for the Edinburgh International Festival.
He was the European Festival Association’s Festival Academy professional lead on the Atelier for Young Producers, and he is a member of UK Theatre, the UK’s theatre industry organisation.
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.
10:50–11:00
The Illusionist by Fredrik Brattberg. Artistic presentation/reading
Presentation by Giles Croft of the work-in-progress of the new translation by E V Crowe.
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A writer sits at his desk.
A man is haunted by a past love.
An illusionist performs a magic trick.Together they will create a radical act of the imagination.
The Illusionist is a virtuosic and comic deconstruction of a one-person play. The life of a storyteller is dissected as he reimagines a tale of his youth. While his family attempt to continue with their lives, he is caught in a feedback loop, leading to both obsession and magical creativity. The play subverts the ideal of the muse, and the male gaze in a form that is playful and open, with its inner workings being constructed as it is performed.Written by Fredrik Bratberg, the work-in-progress has been developed by actor Jack Tarlton, and director Giles Croft, in a newly commissioned English language version by E V Crowe.
11:05–11:40 – 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
Daniel Abercrombie
DirectorThe 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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Fiona Fergusson
Creative Development Director
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. -
Dawn Taylor
Artistic Director & CEOThe 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.
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Laura Mackenzie-Stuart
Head of International
Laura is Head of International at Creative Scotland, the national body for funding the arts, screen and creative industries, and supporting connections to international markets and networks.The role of the team is pivotal in creating new internation opportunities for the cultural sector in Scotland, significantly through partnership working with global peer organisations. In addition, we advocate at a local and national governmental level for the value of international engagement and for continued investment in it.
11:40–11:50 – Coffee break
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.
Questions? Please reach out to producer and advisor Anders Rohlan Småhaug (PAHN) at anders@pahn.no.
Produced by PAHN (Performing Arts Hub Norway) in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy in London and the Consulate General in Edinburgh, with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
