Welcome to Plattform, an informal performance platform for smaller productions, performance excerpts and productions that are in the process of development. Plattform is a social meeting place with free admission. This spring's edition of Plattform is curated by Heiki Riipinen.
Band rehearsal for Performing Arts
"Where are all the new bands?" theater critic Chris Erichsen asked theater director Kristian Seltun, in an interview back in 2021. Chris Erichsen, himself a very capable musician, was not asking for new punk bands in the direct sense, but wondered where the new performing arts companies where hiding.
There have been fewer groups, and more loose collaborations and individual artists. But in recent years we have seen a tendency for performing artists to come together and form bands. Bands of the type that play instruments, make songs and release albums. Individual artists also make music on the side basis, and for some it is their main business. Not musical theater, nor theater music, but about music as theater - or perhaps theater as music? Or maybe just music-music? How do these artists work? What experiences from the performing arts do they bring to the music? And does their musical work influence how they work with performing arts? We may get answers to some of these questions when they invite us into an open rehearsal room.
Kristine from the solo project Kristine blir Rapper will come to investigate stagings of her poems K-brev fra K. The trio Witch Club Satan has invited their own The Witch Choir who will try out new songs. Sofie Søndervik Sæther from Deathman will also join Plattform. As a musician and from the perspective of the music industry, she will think aloud with curator Heiki Riipinen about what the entry of performing artists can mean for the music field – and what challenges it brings.
Kristine Utne Stiberg is a trained actor from the Danish School of Performing Arts, and is the person behind the music project Kristine blir Rapper. Kristine writes lyrics that mix all the Scandinavian languages and asks us to “take it easy”, and yet to “get everyone to come”. The project has been seen at several music festivals, and the debut EP was released in the fall of 2024. Kristine is here now to give something to believe in. On Plattform, Kristine Blir Rapper will test stagings of her poems K-letters from K to find out where they fit best on the spectrum from "songs to conversations".
Witch Club Satan consists of Johanna Holt Kleive, Victoria Fredrikke Schou Røising and Nikoline Spjelkavik. Johanna has a background as a critic and journalist, and writes especially about food and wine. Victoria and Nikoline are educated as actors at the Academy of Performing Arts. The band has exploded on the international music scene, and has played at festivals such as Roskilde and Tons of Rock. On Plattform, their newly started The Witch Choir, which consists of around 20 members, will be in the ring. They will test out vocal material before they have a concert at Rockefeller on March 8.
Deathman is a quartet composed of members from Intetskjøn, FLTY BRGR GRL, Level & Tyson and the drag collective Gutta. The vocalist is actress Josephine Kylén Collins, while the instruments are operated by musicians Ylva Knudsen on guitar, Ragnhild Nelvik Bruseth on drums and Sofie Søndervik Sæther on bass. But in Deathman they perform in drag as Lindorff, Armani, Roel and Dominic, they play eclectically and take all the liberties that a male band can. During Plattform, Sofie Søndervik Sæther performs, who in addition to being a musician works with inclusion, diversity and accessibility for the organization Jeunesses Musicales International. Sofie will think aloud of theater, and the entry of theatricality into the music industry together with curator Heiki Riipinen.
Marika Enstad is an actress, graduated from the Norwegian Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1994. She has worked at most theaters in Norway and now works at the National Theater. She has created her own performances, including Lola and her red shoes dancing with Sircus Polski with Ulf Nilseng which was played at Black Box teater in 2007. Enstad has created a performance about Julia Pastrana's life - The Monkey Woman which was played at St. Jakob's Church in 2013. She is also the front figure/vocalist in the band Fluffers - which is a glam slam band with lots of glitter, heart and pain! On Plattform she wants to explore the voice with time in and beyond death with poems by Federico Garcia Lorca.
