Å gå med Kølle/A Slow Escape is a scenic travel journal, both hypertheatrical and documentary, deriving from two walks from Norway to Venice - Catharine H. Kølle's journey in 1841 and Karen Røise Kielland's tracking of her in 2011. The results of the fieldwork reveal different strategies in the face of the unknown. Smoke shrouds and spotlights glare. Voices crisscross. An absent companion is employed as translator of memories and spaces.
The performance is a confrontation with expectation, and the ability to imagine as the driving force; friend and sometimes foe. Drawings, objects and sound bring the room into motion, while the performer stands still on stage.
"Speed ‹‹has conquered space; ... it has made ‹‹distance meaningless, because no significant part of a human life - year, months, or even weeks - is any longer necessary two reach any point on the earth. " - Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, 1958.
The show is created and performed by Karen Røise Kielland. It has been produced in collaboration with artist Tom Mason.
Karen Røise Kielland was born in Oslo in 1975. She founded Blood for Roses together with Anne Rooschüz while studying at the National Academy in Amsterdam. Kielland has worked with Festival a / d Werf, Over Het IJ Festival, Melkweg Theater, Hetveem Theatre (NL), Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Teater Innlandet, Sogn og Fjordane Teater and Dramatikkens Hus (NOR). Besides Blood for Roses, she has worked with Zhana Ivanova and Michael Portnoy, and since 2006 with choreographer Ivana Muller.
The show if performed in Norwegian with English subtitles.
Concept, direction, script, sound-recordings and performance: Karen Røise Kielland. Dramaturgy: Marit Grimstad Eggen. Drawing: Tom Mason. Soundediting: Erlend Hogstad. Lighting design: Ingeborg Staxrud Olerud. Set design and costume consultant: Jennie Bringsaker. Technician: Kristjan Belgau. Directing advice: Christina Hauge. General Manager: Produsentbyrået/Jorunn Kjersem Hildre. The performance is funded by the Norwegian Art Council and developed in collaboration with Dramatikkens Hus. Co-production: Black Box Teater.