1989: The tree of land and sea 1992: Peer Gynt 1994: Poison ears 1994: Life in the Arctics 1994: Wonderful computer life 1995: Menopas Magical Railroad Show 1996: Les Co-épouses 1998: Doña Quichota Panopticum Thorns and Roses Katitzi Mirad - a boy from Bosnia Sand between your toes Nifty piffle, proper nonsense

One of the 7-10 professional theatre- or dance ensembles in Trondheim, Norway. We play quite a lot, mainly on tour, between 75 and 170 performances per year. Before its creation, the theatre made a headstart in 1986 as "The Flying Cheetah", a theatre-project about mental Health care. It toured the whole of Norway for a.o. the state-owned "Riksteatret" to excellent reviews. Continuing from 1989 as "Teater Fusentast" with the one-man puppetry piece 'The tree of land & sea', the theatre company has built up a renown in Norway and abroad, not only for its irreverent treatment of classics such as 'Peer Gynt', 'The sleeping beauty', 'Don Quichote' and 'A doll's house', either in puppetry, as a stage performance, or as a musical play, but also because its performances usually reflect on current social and political developments. Besides our own productions, we have in between reserved time for other theatrical engagements: 'Poison ears' (based on "Hamlet"), a play about, and performed by, children of divorced parents. Made in a special school where the youngsters, who in one way or another had dropped out of the regular school-system, got a "second chance" to education. In 1994, the Centre for Studies of Labourconditions in Trondheim commanded a play about the computer dependent workplace: 'Wonderful computer life'. For three years we did puppetry-projects with youngsters in the school-department of a psychiatric hospital. Together with their teachers they took part in the creative process. To staff and teachers we underlined that we worked with art and were in no-way amateur-therapists. But we too were very happy when the work resulted in clear signs of improvement in the mental health of the pupils. The work attracted attention and was much approved of by both therapists, teachers and puppetry-colleagues. Coby wrote, and the Australian/British clown Nola Rae directed 'Doña Quichota' (1998), a collaboration with the Trøndelag Teater, Trondheim's municipal theatre. Coby wrote and directed 'Fly away - or An evening at Ragnar's' for the fringe group Studio Teater in Trondheim. Our third new play in 2000 was a cooperation with Teater Visuell, 'Stories for Josette', mainly performed on tour for Figurteatret i Nordland, where the piece was produced. In 2002 we were invited by Raganiukes Teatras in Vilnius to conduct a conference of 3 days for Lithuanian theatre makers, about all of our theatrical work: The use of the classics in theatre for today's child- and adolescent audiences, in our work with troubled youngsters, stage-puppetry and our "open style" of performing, theatre politics in Norway and Lithuania etc. . We gave a gala performance and had an exhibition of Jaap den Hertog's and Coby Omvlee's puppets. Since 1992 we have regularly had contact with colleagues from Burkina Faso. This has resulted in exchange of performances and in artistic collaboration. Thus, our Coby Omvlee (financially supported by the norwegian developmental organisation NORAD) initiated, co-produced, made the puppets and acted as puppeteer in 'Les Co-épouses' (broadcasted as part of a prize-winning documentary series on NRK, norwegian national television). This collaboration is to continue. In 2005 Coby was back to teach puppetry at a training for young actors, and she is preparing 'Frozen angels', based on West African and Norwegian childhood stories. Jaap den Hertog has given workshops, mostly in theatre with puppets, held lectures on a variety of things between heaven and earth, and he has written the text for Bertil Palmar Johansens symphony 'Tor's Hammer', and performed it with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra (2003). These projects are artistically rewarding to us, but our own pieces have the higher priority. Teater Fusentast participated at many festivals extensively in Scandinavia, Europe, Russia and Africa with 'Life in the Arctics', 'Thorns & Roses', 'Peer Gynt', 'Menopas Magical Railroad Show', 'Les Co-épouses', 'Katitzi', 'Nora', 'Titranic' and 'Sand between your toes' and has enjoyed truly enthusiastic response from both audiences and critics. Since it started in 1996, our yearly participation at the Fair for the Performing Arts in Sandefjord has provided us with tours for our plays throughout Norway. Europe's leading puppetry festival at Charleville-Mézières (Fr) invited us for 11 sold-out performances in 1997 of 'Menopas Magical Railroad Show', and in 2000 for 'Doña Quichota'. In 1997 we rediscovered the now long lost tradition of the Peep-show, a theatrical instrument, also called 'Panopticum', where 4 spectators at a time are treated to a 6-minute miniature puppet play. We made 'Thousand years preserved' for the millennial celebrations of the city of Trondheim, 'Nora - The moving picture show' - also shown at Norways National Theatrets Ibsen Festival -, and in the year 2000: 'Titranic I & II', shown at venues such as museums, fancy fairs, parties and children's hospitals. Fusentast celebrated its 10 year's existence in 1999 together with Coby Omvlee's 25 year's career as an actress with a "surprise festival" at the isles of Hitra, Frøya and Mausundvær: 13 performances from Norway and abroad of international quality. More than 1000 visitors from these tiny islands joined us for the celebrations. The double planecrash into the Twin Towers of New York in 2001, with the ensuing hateful international politics that were steered by deceptive arguments, made us take on 'Mirad - a boy from Bosnia' , Ad de Bont's famous play for youngsters (2002). It also heavily inspired 'Sand between your toes' (2002). Both make the spectators experience the melancholy, the joys, the sorrows and the fear of refugees (from Bosnia in 1994, and from Holland in 1942). 'Mirad' is a dialogue for 2 actors and a chair. For 'Sand between your toes' we made use of yet another forgotten theatrical instrument from medieval marketplaces: the "raree show" or "curiosity cabinet". By this technique, as many as 90 spectators may experience a miniature theatre show of 45 minutes in a cabaretesque style. In 2003 we were back in Vilnius at Raganiukes' festival to perform 'Thorns & roses - as told by the frog' , our musical theatre-classic from 1993. In English with simultaneous translation into Lithuanian for a packed house. Also in 2003, Jaap and his panopticum participated in the video of the Norwegian folk-metal band 'Lumsk'. 'Nifty piffle, proper nonsense' opened in 2005. This same year 'Sand between your toes' toured the former concentration camps in the Netherlands in connection with the national celebration of 60 peaceful years after WWII. Teater Fusentast has in 16 years produced 17 plays. Of these, we still perform 8 regularly. In 2004 our company consists of 1 actress/playwright, 5 actors/puppeteers on a freelance basis, 1 administrator and 1 half-time actor/puppeteer, also working as a medical GP. Our visually strong plays are easily adapted into sign-language for a deaf audience with a translator. Teater Fusentast enjoys its co-operations with other theatres, actor, visual artists, authors and musicians, from Norway and abroad. International contacts keep us theatrically in shape. We find contact with students of theatre mutually enriching. We continue to stimulate international appetite for the Norwegian theatre through tours and festival participation abroad. Teater Fusentast is a member of Norway's Dance- & Theatre Centre, the Norwegian Theatre Union (ITI), Assitej Norway and the Norwegian branch of the puppetry association UNIMA. More information: Wonderful computer life Menopa's Magical Rail Road Show Les Co-épouses Doña Quichota & Sandra Pansy The Parisian pillow case

Last update: December 11, 2005