When: Thursday November 5th | 12:00–6:00 pm
Where: Soulpepper Theatre Company
50 Tank House Lane
Toronto, ON M5A 3C4
A Celebration of Norwegian and Sámi Drama
Henrik Ibsen · Jon Fosse · Juho-Sire · Arne Lygre · Kathrine Nedrejord
Presented by The Embassy of Norway in Canada, in collaboration with Performing Arts Hub Norway and Soulpepper Theatre Company.
Join us for an afternoon of Norwegian and Sámi drama — from Henrik Ibsen, Nobel Prize laureate Jon Fosse, to distinctive voices in contemporary Norwegian theatre including Arne Lygre and two contemporary Sámi Norwegian playwrights Kathrine Nedrejord and Juho-Sire.
The afternoon will bring together members of the Canadian theatre community and a Norwegian and Sámi delegation of playwrights and theatre professionals to explore opportunities for new artistic connections and collaborations. The day will include a panel, a reading of new Norwegian and Sámi contemporary drama directed by Sturla Alsvåg in collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and a conversation with the playwrights. The event ends with a networking session.
Panel discussion
A panel featuring Jo Kai Kei (Jeff Ho), Peter Hinton-Davis, Siri Løkholm Ramberg and Karen Fricker will discuss Norwegian drama, Ibsen’s influence on Canadian and international theatre and how he has inspired the new work emerging from Norway and Canada. Penny Farfan will lead the discussion.
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Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)
Jeff Ho is a theatre artist, originally from Hong Kong. As an actor, he has toured as Ophelia in Why Not Theatre's Prince Hamlet across Canada and the United States over a span of five years.
As a playwright, his works include Prophetess, pastoral, cockroach, Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land), Antigone: 方, and trace. His plays are published by Playwrights Canada Press.
Jeff is grateful to have been honoured with the LAMBDA Award for Best LGBTQ+ Drama; Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best New Canadian Play; the Jon Kaplan Legacy Fund Award for a Young Canadian Playwright; finalist for the Playwright's Guild of Canada's Drama award; finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award; nominated for four Dora Awards. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School, and holds an MFA from York University, where he is also an Adjunct Professor in the Theatre Department.
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Peter Hinton-Davis is a Canadian theatre and opera director, playwright and educator. Through his commitment to new writing and revisionist productions of canonical works, Hinton-Davis has significantly impacted the evolution of contemporary Canadian theatre. Recent credits includes the Canadian premiere of Suzannah by Jon Fosse.
From 2005-2012, Peter was Artistic Director of English Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre (2005-2012). Previously, he was associate artist at The Stratford Festival, Dramaturg in Residence at Playwrights Workshop Montreal and Associate Artistic Director at the Canadian Stage Company and Theatre Passe Muraille. Peter has taught at the National Theatre School, Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Alberta, York University and The Fountain School of the Arts at Dalhousie University. In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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Siri Løkholm Ramberg works as dramaturg at Det Norske Teatret. She is trained in theatre studies, literature and dramaturgy in Bergen, Buenos Aires and Aarhus. Previously worked at Den Nationale Scene and Oslo Nye Teater.
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Karen Fricker is the editorial director of Intermission Magazine and an adjunct professor of Dramatic Arts at Brock University. She has written and broadcast about theatre in Toronto, London (UK), Dublin, New York, and Los Angeles for the Toronto Star, The Irish Times, The Guardian, Variety, The Los Angeles Times, American Theatre, The New York Times, the Village Voice, RTÉ, the BBC, and the CBC. Sustaining and nurturing theatre criticism is a significant focus of her work through initatives including the Canada-wide mentorship and professionalization program Page Turn (with Neworld Theatre, Vancouver); the free online course Youareacritic.com, developed with Nathaniel Hanula-James and Jose Solís; and the mentorship programs ON Criticism, What Writing Can Do, and the IBPOC Critics Lab. She has been attending and researching the Eurovision Song Contest since 2005 and is co-editor (with Elad Carmel, Jessica Carniel, and Ivan Raykoff) of The Oxford Handbook of Eurovision Song Contest Studies (forthcoming 2029). With Charles R. Batson she is founding co-director of the Circus and its Others research network, which is organizing its fifth international conference in January 2027 in Kerala, India, and which recently published two dedicated issues of the peer-reviewed journal Circus: Arts, Life, and Sciences.
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Penny Farfan is Professor of Drama at the University of Calgary and the author of Women, Modernism, and Performance (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and Performing Queer Modernism (Oxford University Press, 2017), as well as many articles and book chapters on modernism and performance, contemporary women playwrights, and postcards. Her essay “Ibsen Postcards / Postcard Ibsens: Domesticating Modernism” was published in Modern Drama in 2022 with 119 colour illustrations. She is the co-editor of Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Plays by Women: The Early Twenty-First Century (University of Michigan Press, 2021) and Contemporary Women Playwrights: Into the Twenty-First Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and a past editor of Theatre Journal. Her new book project is an edited collection of essays on historical postcards relating to theatre and performance, forthcoming from Routledge. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the International Federation for Theatre Research and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Theatrical readings presenting Fosse, Juho-Sire, Nedrejord and Lygre
Following a short break, the stage will be set for theatrical readings, produced by Soulpepper Theatre Company, directed by Sturla Alvsvåg.
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Sturla Alvsvåg is an actor and theatre-maker from Bergen, Norway. A graduate of Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris and University of Bergen, Sturla has created and performed with companies from across Australia, France, Norway, and Canada. Select works include: Shockheaded Peter Wendy and Peter Pan, Romeo and Juliet, Jul I Svingen, The Song From the End of the World, From a Crack in a Cloud and The Incredible Bus (upcoming) (The National Theatre of Norway) Prince Hamlet and What You Won’t Do for Love (Why Not Theatre) The Nose and The First Time I Saw the Sea (YVA Theatre Company); Telavåg (The West Norwegian Theatre); Lady M (1S1); Rosmersholm and All’s Well (Crow’s Theatre).
Sturla is a winner of the Hedda Price, two time winner of the BT Critics award and the Rampelykten Prize from Bergen Theatre Association.
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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. -
(English below)
Representation by …
Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen lea guovttegielat sámi čálli, lávdeteakstačálli ja lávlu, ja assá Deanus.Son lea áidna čálli davábeale Dovre gii lea ožžon Ibsen bálkkašumi. Dan oaččui 2025:s lávdeteavstta Per Hansen - en trofast mann/oskkáldas almmái ovddas
Dás ovdanbuktojuvvo oasáža dán teavsttas. Jorgaleaddji lea Olivia Lasky.
Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen is a multilingual sami writer, playwright and singer who lives in the small sami municipality of Deatnu/Tana.
She is the only playwright north of Dovre who has been awarded the Ibsen price. This happened in 2025, the award was for the text to the stageplay Per Hansen – a loyal man/oskkáldas almmái.
Exerpts from the text is presented here today. Translator to American english: Olivia Lasky.
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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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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. -
Per Hansen – en trofast mann/oskkáldas almmái
Per Hansen er en ordentlig mann. Han er gift, har en voksen datter og driver Hertz bilutleie på den bittelille flyplassen i den bittelille bygda et sted i fornorska Sápmi. Per Hansen har ingen hemmeligheter. Bortsett fra den om Silje Jansen, hun som bor 40 mil unna, akkurat langt nok borte.
Juho-Sire/Siri Broch Johansen ble tildelt Ibsenprisen 2025 for denne sceneteksten.
Oversatt til engelsk av Olivia Lasky
For rettigheter, kontakt (agency kommer her, kontrakt er ikke skrevet ennå)
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Tekst inn.
Playwright talk
The readings are followed by talks with the playwrights (Jon Fosse is represented by Gina Winje, Winje Agency and Arne Lygre represented by Tom Remlov, Songbird Agency) moderated by Karen Fricker.
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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.
Photo credits: Juho-Siri/Dáiddadállu, Kathrine Nedrejord/Farten Rudjord, Arne Lygre/Tine Poppe, Jon Fosse/Agnete Brun, Gina Winje/Morten Bjerk
