Ibsen and New Norwegian Drama: Panel talk, theatrical readings and networking reception
When: Thursday, 21 May, 1:00 to 6.00 pm
Where: Norwegian Ambassador's Residence, Winkler Straße 15a, 14193 Berlin-Grunewald
This gathering brings together playwrights, theatre-makers, and the performing arts industry for an afternoon dedicated to Henrik Ibsen, contemporary Norwegian drama and its international resonance, including a seminar on translations of drama arranged by NORLA.
The event opens with words of welcome from the Ambassador Laila Stenseng, followed by a presentation of the Ibsen Jubilee 2028, by CEO of PAHN – Performing Arts Hub Norway, Hege Knarvik Sande
Panel Talk: Why still stage Ibsen in Germany?
With participants: Sivan Ben Yishai, playwright and director; Sebastian Hartmann, director; Prof. Dr. Clemens Räthel, Chair of Modern Scandinavian Literature, University of Greifswald; Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel, translator and Fosse Prize Winner 2025
The talk is moderated by Barbara Behrendt, journalist and theatre critic.
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Sivan Ben Yishai born in 1978, is one of the most important playwrights of her generation. Her plays are frequently performed in German-speaking countries and internationally, including South Korea, France, Spain, Czechia, Sweden and Finland.
Sivan Ben Yishai won the 2022 Mülheim Drama Prize for WOUNDS ARE FOREVER (self-portrait as the national poet) and in 2024 for Nora or How to Digest the Master’s House, and has been nominated twice more. By Theater heute, she was voted Playwright of the Year (2022 and 2023), when her plays have also been invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen. Her work is translated from English into German by the writers Maren Kames and Gerhild Steinbuch. Sivan Ben Yishai has lived in Berlin since 2012.
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Sebastian Hartmann is a director and stage designer. Born in Leipzig in 1968, he studied acting at the ‘Hans Otto’ Theatre Academy in Leipzig and worked as an actor, before he began directing from the mid-1990s. From 1999 to 2003 he was in-house director at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin. He has directed at the Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg, the Burgtheater Vienna, the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the theatres in Basel, Cologne, Magdeburg, Frankfurt, Tallinn and the National Theatre Oslo. From 2008 to 2013, Sebastian Hartmann was Artistic Director of Schauspiel Leipzig, which he renamed Centraltheater. Since then, he has worked as a freelance director and stage designer at numerous major theatres. His productions Krieg und Frieden (Centraltheater, 2013), Erniedrigte und Beleidigte (Staatsschauspiel Dresden, 2019), Der Zauberberg (Deutsches Theater Berlin, 2021), Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (Deutsches Theater Berlin, 2023) and most recently Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (Staatstheater Cottbus, 2026) and Serotonin (Hans Otto Theater Potsdam, 2026) have been invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen.
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Clemens Räthel is Professor of Modern Scandinavian Literatures at the University of Greifswald (Germany). Previously, he worked as associate professor at the University of Bergen (Norway) and held a post-doc position at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research focuses on Scandinavian theatres and literatures, the construction and function of national theatres in Northern Europe as well as Jewish-Scandinavian relations. He is Speaker of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Baltic Sea Region Research (IFZO) and Festival Co-Director of the annual Nordischer Klang.
In addition to his academic work, Clemens Räthel has worked as manager and producer for a number of leading theatres and festivals, including Bregenzer Festspiele, the Salzburg Festival, the Burgtheater in Vienna and the Ruhrtriennale. During this time, he collaborated with directors such as Peter Zadek, Andrea Breth and Claus Peymann.
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Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel was born in 1959 and is one of Germany’s most distinguished translators. He studied German and French to become a teacher and, since 1987, has translated a long list of authors from Norwegian, Danish, French, and Italian into German, including Jon Fosse, Henrik Ibsen, Tarjei Vesaas, Édouard Louis, Denis Diderot, and Yasmina Reza. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Paul Celan Prize, the German Youth Literature Prize, and the Straelen Translation Prize from the Kunststiftung NRW. Schmidt-Henkel was, in 2025, the first ever recipient of the Fosse Prize for Translators
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Barbara Behrendt works as a freelance cultural journalist and theater critic for Deutschlandradio, rbb, taz, and Die deutsche Bühne in Berlin. She is a teacher in cultural journalism at the Burda School of Journalism and serves on the expert jury of the Hauptstadtkulturfonds (Capital Cultural Fund). As a recipient of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, she reported from New York and Montreal and served on various juries, including those for the Mülheimer Dramatikpreis, Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur, Berliner Kindertheaterpreis, Berliner Autor:innentheatertage, Theaterpreis des Bundes, Heidelberger Stückemarkt. She managed blogs for the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Federal Cultural Foundation), the Theatertreffen, and the Mülheimer Theatertage.
Photos: Sivan Ben Yishai/Max Zerrahn. Sebastian Hartmann/Private. Prof. Dr. Clemens Räthel/Laura Schirrmeister, Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel/Gorm K. Gaare, The National Library of Norway, Barbara Behrendt
Theatrical readings
Recents works by Kathrine Nedrejord, Fredrik Brattberg, Eirik Fauske & Jon Fosse, are presented in theatrical readings, directed by Johannes Nölting, dramaturg at Berliner Ensemble.
The readings are followed by talks with the playwrights (Jon Fosse is represented by Gina Winje, Winje Agency) moderated by Barbara Behrendt.
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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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Kathrine Nedrejord, born in 1987 in Hammerfest, Norway, is an author, playwright and performing artist of Sámi heritage who lives in Paris. She has published a number of novels, both for adults and young adults. Her play "Brent jord" was nominated for the Ibsen Prize in 2016. She received the Havmann Prize for her novel “Forvandlinga” (2018). She was a resident writer at the National Theatre in Oslo (2018–2020) and at Dramatikkens Hus in Oslo (2020–2021). The play “What Sara Hides” (“Det Sara skjuler”) was written in 2020 and is based on a young adult novel of the same name, which was published in 2019 and has been translated into German, Danish and Northern Sami.
Brattberg is represented by Colombine Teaterförlag
Plays by Kathrine Nedrejord can be found at
https://dreimaskenverlag.de/autoren/nedrejord-kathrine/titel
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Eirik Fauske (b. 1982) works as a playwright and director. He has written, directed and self‑produced several works for the stage, including LINDÅS, LIVE – Sorgarbeid and Parprosjektet. Other texts include Åstaddiktning (Det Norske Teatret), a powerful reimagining of Draumkvedet (Kompaniet Ymist), and a new rendering of The Tempest (Haugesund Teater). The plays Under barnehagen and Hundrevis av barn i vill kamp have both been staged multiple times abroad. Under barnehagen was nominated for the Ibsen Award in 2011, and Hundrevis av barn i vill kamp was nominated for the German Children’s Theatre Prize in 2022. In 2026, his text Dei som aldri døyr premiered at Riksteatern in Sweden.
Rights/Publisher: Verlag der Autoren -
Dramatic works represented by Colombine Teaterförlag(NO/SE). For this event, Fosse is represented by his literary agent Gina Winje (NO) and Imogen Sarre at Cassarotto agency (UK)
Jon Fosse, born in 1959, awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023, is widely considered one of the most important writers of our time. For almost forty years he has written novels, plays, poems, stories, essays, and children’s books. His award-winning work has been translated into more than fifty languages, and his plays have been staged over a thousand times all over the world.
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Gina Winje, founder and CEO, has worked in publishing and culture export industry for years. She founded Winje Agency in 2016 with Jon Fosse as its first author. In 2023, Fosse received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Winje Agency works with a select list of high-quality authors, including Victoria Kielland, Aslak Nore, Ruth Lillegraven, Sigri Sandberg, Thorvald Steen and Long Litt Woon. The stall of authors is growing constantly, now including the Danish literary stars Helle Helle and Stine Pilgaard.
www.winjeagency.com
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Fredrik Brattberg
TilbakekomsteneTranslated from Norwegian by Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel
A father and mother must come to terms with their son’s disappearance. At a loss as to where he might be, they resign themselves to the inevitable and carry on with their daily lives. But suddenly, Gustav, the prodigal son, reappears. Now everything could be all right again. But the son disappears again. And once more, the pain and helplessness return. Yet the parents also begin to harbor their first doubts about their son’s character. And then he’s back – only to disappear again.
What happens to emotions when their source is repeatedly taken away? Do grief and despair wear themselves out over time, giving way to indifference? When does a tragedy degenerate into farce?
Frederik Brattberg has written a play about family relationships in the tradition of the theater of the absurd, one that captivates with its humor and musical structure. The constant repetitions in content and structure resemble the development of a musical theme following the exposition. Slight variations and new combinations create a shimmering blurriness that formally mirrors the characters’ uncertainty and doubt. Through its meandering use, the language takes on a sonic quality that further resembles the instrumentation of an orchestral work.
German-language premiere: September 2019, Schauspiel Frankfurt.
The translation was supported by NORLA and the Norwegian Playwrights' Association, both based in Oslo. -
Kathrine Nedrejord
Forbryter og straff
Translated from Norwegian by Stefan Pluschkat
Stage adaptation by Tora von Platen
“I have decided to tell his story.” Thus begins Forbryter og straff by the Norwegian author Kathrine Nedrejord.
What follows is the emotional yet deeply reflective account of a woman who, following a rape, must not only fight this traumatic experience but also societal stigmatisation.
She questions her own identity, distinguishing between a ‘SHE’ before the rape and an ‘I’ afterwards; she questions the reliability of her own perception and seeks ways to process the trauma. Can one still be the same person after such a violent experience as one was before? How can one regain control over one’s own self, which has been so deeply wounded? The woman describes the fear that has haunted her since that night, and the feeling of restrain she has carried within her ever since. How can one restain a foothold in life when the world makes it so difficult?
But she also describes her attempt to build a new life with her partner.
The author recounts the negative experiences this young woman has with the investigating police officers, the humiliating medical examinations, society’s fascination with the art of sexualised violence against women, and her confrontation with the perpetrator, the criminal she must face a second time when the trial comes.
What sounds like the script for a thriller is, in Kathrine Nedrejord’s hands, a multi-layered and poetic analysis of crime, victim and offender. Fearless, moving, and touching!
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World Premiere Kilden Teater, Kristiansand, 5 September 2020, Dir.: Magnus Sparsaas / Sunniva Fliflet
German premiere: Schauburg Munich, 5 November 2021, Dir.: Daniel PflugerOn the way home from the hospital, where the child’s grandfather has just died, a child falls from its father’s shoulders. But instead of hitting the ground, it keeps falling, deeper and deeper into the ocean, and lands on the deck of a ship filled with hundreds of children locked in a wild battle. Fearless and full of vitality, the child embarks on an adventurous journey. At the same time, voices from another world seep into its perception — voices that seem familiar, as it also appears to have landed safely on the sofa. In this adventurous play, a world emerges in which the laws of space and time, of reality and imagination, seem strangely suspended, and the child’s emotions become absolute truth. As in Under the Kindergarten, Eirik Fauske creates a poetic universe for children, one that allows them to explore adventure and fear, grief and joy in a playful way. The play was nominated for Deutscher Kindertheaterpreis 2022
At least 1 performer and voices
Recommended age: 5+ years.
Translated by: Elke Ranzinger
Rights/Publisher: Verlag der Autoren
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The Play is quite different from many of the other pieces Jon Fosse has written and breaks with both expectations and clichés.
An adult and a younger couple are standing on the dock waiting for a boat. They don't know when the boat will arrive, they only know that it will come, and that they have tickets for the ride. They wait. But they haven't waited long before a small troupe of actors unexpectedly appears.
The actors offer a play to shorten the wait. And the waiting people say yes. Because no one can enter this boat without first seeing the actors perform The Play.
Translated by Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel
For rights, contact Colombine Teaterförlag.
Photos: Eirik Fauske/Erik Fusk, Kathrine Nedrejord/Fartein Rudjord, Fredrik Brattberg/S. A. Löwenborg, Gina Winje/Morten Bjerk, Johannes Nölting/Daniel Hutcheson
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Johannes Nölting, born in Leipzig in 1989, studied Comparative Literature and Philosophy in Berlin and Lausanne. Since 2020 he has been working as a dramaturg and curator at the Berliner Ensemble.
As a dramaturg he has collaborated on productions by Oliver Reese, Max Lindemann, Fritzi Wartenberg, Stas Zhyrkov and Heiki Riipinen as well as lecture performances with Alena Jabarine and Sophie Passmann.
He develops and produces public discourse programmes and symposia on contemporary political issues, commemorative events and societal debates – including on threats to democracy, the East German transformation process, antisemitism and global protest. He curates the ongoing series Friedman im Gespräch (with Michel Friedman), ZEIT-Recherchen (with Caterina Lobenstein/DIE ZEIT) and Aus Ruinen (with Hendrik Bolz).
He served as a jury member at the Borstnik Festival Maribor (2024).
At Freie Universität Berlin he teaches regularly at the Institute for Theatre Studies – with seminars on city theatre and its societal role.
The event will end with a networking reception from 5 pm.
Translation workshop
High quality translations are vital for drama to find its way to international stages. In connection with the event, NORLA, PAHN and the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin are hosting a seminar on translation of drama in Berlin. The main focus is a practical text workshop for translators working from Norwegian into German, led by Hinrich Schmidt‑Henkel. The participants will work on translations of an excerpt from filmmaker and author Dag Johan Haugerud’s debut play Sykdom og sosial nød, which is playing to sold‑out audiences at Torshovteatret this spring.
Banner photo credit: Jon Fosse/Agnete Brun, Eirik Fauske/Erik Fusk, Fredrik Brattberg/S. A. Löwenborg, Kathrine Nedrejord/Fartein Rudjord,
