When: Wednesday, May 13th, 2.30–6 pm
Where: Norwegian Ambassador’s Residence, Amesbury House, 10 Palace Green, London W8 4QA
New Norwegian Drama: Theatrical readings, panel & networking reception
This gathering brings together playwrights, theatre-makers, and the performing arts industry for an afternoon dedicated to contemporary Norwegian drama and its international resonance.
The event opens with words of welcome from the Ambassador and PAHN, setting the stage for a presentation of the Ibsen Jubilee in 2028 by Hege Knarvik Sande, CEO of PAHN, and a discussion of Ibsen’s extensive influence, even today.
Ibsen as a Counterforce for 200 Years
Two hundred years after the birth of Henrik Ibsen, his plays continue to resonate as powerful reflections on social structures and contemporary realities. By challenging the conventions of his time, Ibsen established theatre as a space for critical inquiry, a legacy that continues to shape both Norwegian and international drama.
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Over the past 30 years, Tanika has written over 35 stage plays for major theatres across the UK as well as writing several original television dramas for the BBC and contributing scripts for some of the BBC's longest running series. Her adaptations of Ibsen's work include HEDDA (Orange Tree) and A DOLL'S HOUSE (Lyric Hammersmith), while her other work for the stage includes LIONS AND TIGERS (Shakespeare’s Globe - Winner of the James Tait Black Prize for Drama), A TUPPERWARE OF ASHES (National Theatre) and THE EMPRESS (RSC). Tanika was awarded an MBE for her services to drama in 2008.
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Liyang Xia is Associate Professor at the Centre for Ibsen Studies at the University of Oslo. Her research focuses on the reception of Henrik Ibsen in Chinese and global theatre, as well as Chinese traditional theatre and contemporary performance practices.
She is the author of Ibsen, Theatre and the Chinese State: A Hundred Years of Contestations (Manchester University Press, 2026), and co-author of Visualising Lost Theatres: Virtual Praxis and the Recovery of Performance Spaces(Cambridge University Press, 2022). Xia also works as a literary translator and has translated Ibsen’s plays directly from Norwegian into Chinese.
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Low Kee Hong is Creative Director at Factory International, the landmark cultural space in the heart of Manchester which opened in 2023. He leads the curatorial team and, together with Artistic Director and CEO John McGrath, develops the artistic programme for Factory International as well as Manchester International Festival (MIF) from 2025.
He also oversees public engagement, artist development and international collaborations, supporting artists in Greater Manchester and the North while helping bring their work to global audiences. His work spans training initiatives, community engagement and international partnerships that enable large-scale artistic productions to be realised and toured worldwide. Low Kee Hong is a committee member of the prestigious award International Ibsen Award.
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Anya Reiss began her writing career in theatre with her debut play Spur of the Moment at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010. She won the Most Promising Playwright Award at both the Critics Circle and Evening Standard awards that year, along with Best New Play at the TMAs.
Her follow-up play The Acid Test was staged at the same venue the next year, with her National Theatre Connections play Forty-Five Minutes following in 2013. Her original version of The Seagull, directed by Russell Bolam, was staged in 2012 at the Southwark Playhouse, and they worked on two further modern-day Chekhovs together - first at the same venue, then at the St James Theatre. Since then, Anya's version of Spring Awakening has toured with Headlong, and her adaptation of Oliver Twist was at the Regents' Park Theatre in 2017.
Anya's new version of The Seagull - directed by Jamie Lloyd, and starring Emilia Clarke - opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the summer of 2022. Recently, Anya's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House came to the Almeida Theatre.
In television, Anya was the creator, executive producer, and writer of the Starz series Becoming Elizabeth. Previously she was a lead writer on Channel 4's Ackley Bridge and a core writer on EastEnders.
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Nancy Durrant is a culture journalist and broadcaster with more than two decades of experience. She is co-host of The London Theatre Review podcast and writes The London Culture Edit, a regular Substack newsletter reviewing and highlighting current and upcoming cultural events in London from theatre to art and the rest.
She was formerly the Culture Editor of the Evening Standard, where she also hosted Cultural Capital, a weekly YouTube London culture show, and prior to that spent 16 years as an arts writer and editor at The Times of London.
A panel featuring Tanika Gupta, Low Kee Hong, Liyang Xia and Anya Reiss with culture journalist Nancy Durrant as moderator, will explore why Ibsen remains relevant on stages worldwide today, what kind of legacy his work has created for Norwegian drama, and how his influence can be traced in new generations of playwrights. It will also consider in what ways Ibsen can still function as a counterforce in contemporary society.
Further the panel will explore the evolving landscape of theatre, collaboration across borders, and the role of storytelling today, and examines a broader question: what conditions in Norway have enabled such singular voices to emerge, and how are new generations of playwrights continuing and transforming this legacy today?
Theatrical readings presenting Fosse, Lygre, Isakstuen and Grønskag
Following a short break, the stage will be set for theatrical readings, produced by Foregin Affairs, from works by Jon Fosse, Arne Lygre, Monica Isakstuen and Kristofer Blindheim Grønskag, four playwrights whose writing has shaped and challenged Nordic theatre in distinct ways.
The readings lead naturally into a conversation moderated by Nancy Durrant with playwrights Isakstuen and Grønskag, accompanied by literary agent Gina Winje (Winje Agency) and Tom Remlov (Songbird Agency), offering insight into their creative processes, artistic motivations, and experiences reaching audiences beyond Norway.
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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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Represented by Tom Remlow (NO) Songbird and Toby Parsons (UK)
Arne Lygre’s unique voice and powerful writing embrace us, comfort us, and leave a lasting emotional imprint. His plays have become an international export, establishing him as a major dramatist on the world stage. Today, his works are putting Norway on the map across a wide range of global theatre landscapes.
Lygre’s body of work includes a remarkable collection of plays, novels, and short stories. He was awarded the Brage Prize for his short story collection Tid inne, and has earned critical acclaim for novels such as Et siste ansikt and Min døde mann. His dramatic oeuvre encompasses thirteen plays, each marked by a distinctive style and thematic depth that is uniquely his own.
Arne Lygre has secured a strong position in the international theatre sphere. His works have been recognized with prestigious awards including the Ibsen Award and the Hedda Award. His plays have been translated into more than twenty languages, affirming his standing as one of the Nordics most vital and globally resonant playwrights. -
Represented by Colombine (NO/SE) and Sissi Lichtenstein at IPR agency (UK)
Monica Isakstuen (b 1976, Norway) is a critically acclaimed author and playwright.
She debuted in 2008 with the poetry collection Sånn, borte, and produced the novel Avstand in 2008. Her breakthrough came with the novel Vær snill med dyrene (2016), for which she was awarded the Brage Prize, and she received the national Ibsenprisen for the play «Dette er ikke oss» in 2023 . Her latest novel to be published was Mine Venner in 2021. Her works have been translated to many languages, and been played in a number of countries. Isakstuen was the resident playwright at Dramatikkens hus from 2018 to 2021. Spring 2026, her play «Til minne om familien» has its world premiere at Hålogaland teater i Norway, alongside several first performances in Sweden and France.
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Represented by Colombine (NO/SE) and Sissi Lichtenstein at IPR agency (UK)
Kristofer Blindheim Grønskag (born 1984) has written a number of plays that have been produced both in Norway and internationally. His work has earned several nominations and awards, including the prestigious Jugendtheaterpreis Baden-Württemberg, longlisting for the Deutscher Kindertheaterpreis and Deutscher Jugendtheaterpreis, the Amsterdam Fringe Bronze Award, as well as two nominations for the Ibsen Award. Grønskag also works as a dramaturg and lecturer, and has undertaken several adaptations and reworkings. He has been a resident playwright at Dramatikkens Hus in Oslo and the Norwegian representative for the European Writers Lab. His work has so far been translated into eleven languages.
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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 -
Tom Remlov is a director, dramaturg and translator, and a central figure in Norwegian cultural life with extensive experience from top positions in the performing arts sector. He has served as Artistic Director of Den Nationale Scene, Artistic Director of Riksteatret, and Chief Executive of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet.
He is currently Chair of the Board at Songbird and has in‑depth knowledge of the playwright Arne Lygre, who is represented by the agency.
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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 May-Brit Akerholt.
For rights, contact Colombine Teaterförlag.
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In Give Me Your Hand (2026) an aging widower has summoned his family to a surprise gathering, to inform them of a decision nobody is prepared for. He has been a distant father to his three daughters, who in adult life have gone their separate ways. Now they struggle to respond, and at the final reckoning, the widower abandons the female assistant he has hired and makes a new connection with his two grown up grandchildren. Does this lead to life or death?
Translated by Tom Remlov
For rights, contact Songbird Agency. -
What remains when the lust of being in love has faded? When there’s more and more time between caresses, when interest cools and you no longer laugh with each other? When everything is just Mondays and November, routine and autopilot, and the excitement has long since disappeared? When you find yourself thinking that illness or losing a family member would be better than this? At least then you’d have an excuse not to sleep with each other, an explanation for why everything isn’t great—and you would actually deserve the sympathy you now feel entitled to simply for enduring.
Where did it go wrong? Have I always been this boring? Or is it you who made me this way? And vice versa…?
In her play Han andre (“The Other Man”), Monica Isakstuen explores insecurity and jealousy. She slips under the covers in a way that is both painful and playful. It’s embarrassingly recognizable.
Translated by Neil Howard.
For rights, contact Colombine Teaterförlag.
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A play for three performers.
An ice-cream van drives down a high-street; any high-street. The driver of the ice-cream van will become known as ‘the perpetrator’. Distance is a mosaic of the lives touched, deeply or fleetingly, by the ripples expanding outward from that van. In the light of what transpires ordinary and seemingly unconnected events will suddenly take on new meaning.
Grønskag conjures up playful, breezy dialogue while all the while grappling with the most complex of issues. In Distance he examines the idea that nothing human is alien to us, regardless of how dark and how painful it is.
Distance was one of three plays chosen from the Cornerstone Open Call and performed the 2022 Bergen Dramatikkfestival by actors from The National Stage, Bergen.
Translated by May-Brit Akerholt.
For rights, contact Colombine Teaterförlag.
Photo credits: Jon Fosse: Agnete Brun/Monica Isakstuen: Hålogaland Teater/Kristofer Grønskag: Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard/Arne Lygre: Tine Poppe/Gina Winje: Morten Bjerk
Collaborating partners
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About Foreign Affairs
Winner of The Stage International Award 2026, Foreign Affairs is a theatre company with an adventurous spirit, led by Camila França and Trine Garrett. Based at the Rose Lipman Building in Hackney, they stage international plays in translation – work that resonates across languages, cultures, and communities. They can often be found in unexpected spaces – creating close-up encounters between global stories and local audiences.
Recent productions include Black Swans by Christina Kettering, translated by Pauline Wick; The Wetsuitman by Freek Mariën, translated by David McKay; and Where I Call Home by Marc-Antoine Cyr, translated by Charis Ainslie.
Foreign Affairs also run workshops and training programmes for emerging theatre-makers and translators, and local young people, including the Theatre Translator Mentorship (unique in the industry), Emerging Theatre-Makers activities, and workshops in secondary schools in collaboration with Performing International Plays — all grounded in the company's practice.
Camila França & Trine Garrett © Luca Migliore
