Greetings from the Artistic Director

For 71 years, an army of volunteers and professionals have gathered at Stiklestad to tell an important part of our country's history. It says a lot about how powerful theatre can be and how important community is for people.

My task as artistic director is to develop The Saint Olav drama towards the National Jubilee in 2030. Last year I started this work by going back to the starting point, to Olav Gullvåg's script and Okkenhaug's music that were given as a gift to the people of Verdal in 1951. I want to invite various artists to enter into dialogue with and further develop this legacy. Stiklestad is a place where stories meet and truths are explored. In the friction between past and present, art can create new perspectives.

This year, as last year, the renowned director Ingrid Fortun is leading this dialogue. With her is a star-studded cast of professional and amateur actors from Verdal Theatre Company, who, together with choreographer Cina Espejord from the National Ballet, will create theatrical magic. I myself have also been involved in the dialogue with the script and written a prologue that speaks to the times we live in. In addition, Olav Haraldsson has been given more space, both with more text, but also in the form of a dancer who is the king's own shadow. What kind of leader he was and what his motives were, historians argue, but the role of the theater is not to show the truth, it is to play with it.

The biggest change from last year's game was that Okkenhaug's fantastic music was played by a symphony orchestra. It was very successful, also because we had new loudspeaker towers that gave the audience a better experience. This year's orchestra consists of amateur musicians from the Frol Symphony Orchestra and the Nord-Trøndelag Chamber Orchestra. Together with professional musicians from the region and a large male choir, musical director Torodd Wigum will let Okkenhaug's music spread across the game amphitheater. With him on the team he has the conductor talent August Iversen who is Co-Player of the YearMy hope is that the orchestra pit at Stiklestad will become a recruitment arena for young musicians towards the anniversary in 2030.

The theme for this year's Olsok Days is "BOUNDARIES". We live in a turbulent time where it feels like there are no limits to the abuse of power and many people are fleeing across borders. At the same time, it feels like each of us must work harder to set boundaries for ourselves.

This year's version of the play takes on this theme. The various characters in the play are faced with crucial choices where they must cross boundaries within themselves in order to be true to what they believe in. Are there boundaries that are still sacred to us?

The theme is also woven into a side project that you will find in a video installation at the entrance to the cultural center. We have called it “In dialogue with” and it is part of the Museums Heritage podium project. Here we have given people who have fled across the borders from their homelands lines from the play, and asked them to interpret it in their own language. We have a young female journalist from Afghanistan who is Gudrun, a married couple from Palestine living in Levanger are Torgeir Flekk and his wife Gudrid, a soldier who a few months ago returned injured from the front in Ukraine is Gamal-Jostein and a young man from Mariupol is Kongen. In the background you will hear Okkenhaug’s music played on the Arabic string instrument oud by a young woman from Syria. Feel free to stop by and experience how the lines from the play take on a different meaning.

In Greek theater, the expression catharsis was used, as purification and renewal. My hope is that this year's play will touch something in you that gives new thoughts and perspectives, and that the feeling of community can give courage and comfort. On stage are 280 actors and 6 horses, and behind them infinitely many more who have worked hard to create a performance that you can enjoy.

Thank you for being here with us and have fun!