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We awaken this
We awaken the sleeping bear
In a landscape of milk and honey!
Welcome to the crossroads where inner and outer landscapes meet!
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Vake is a confidential, participatory performance that unfolds over the course of a night. The audience is transported from Black Box teater to a secret location – a cabin, a kind of radio lab, a campsite, a naval battle, a ritual. Together, participants enter a collective experience where the line between performer and spectator disappears. You are initiated into an order. You don’t watch – you take part.
Throughout the night, a radio broadcast is transmitted from within – a night radio giving the outside world a glimpse into what unfolds in real time. If you need to step away, there’s a space beyond the carnival dimension. You may also go to sleep – and if so, your dreams at this place will be part of the experience. But if you manage to stay awake until dawn, more will be given than what is asked of you.
Vake explores the theatrical potential of ritual and collectivity. It is an invitation to meet the unknown – in the space, in others, and in yourself. The night unfolds between structure and play, between the known and the unpredictable. A shared world is woven together through the actions and choices of the participants.
The performance premiered at Black Box teater in 2019. Now, it returns in connection with the cinema release of Morgendagens helter (Tomorrows Heroes), a film by Mariken Halle, in which an alternate version of Vake appears. The original Vake, however, remains secret. A silent agreement is made with the participants: not everything that happens during the night can be revealed.
All night, I am a forest demon. I force the critic from Shakespearetidsskriftet to dance for me like a village prostitute. And I kill the man playing Cinderella. The next morning, I see in the mirror that my face is covered in black paint. I’m sore from the experience and feel a creeping sense of shame: Did I go too far when I shouted “kill, kill, kill!” on a night radio broadcast? Why did I want to scream obscenities at Snow White?
Because I have signed a non-disclosure agreement in connection with the performance “Vake”, I am prevented from writing a review. Therefore, I have written a fairy tale inspired by the vigil night. This is what the princes of fog behind “Vake” write: “Vake” is a secret mystery game, which only participants are allowed to take part in and talk about – and then only with each other. It is strictly forbidden to reveal the mysteries. If you want to know what goes on in “Vake”, you must participate. Otherwise, you will forever be shrouded in the fog of ignorance – together with a bunch of horses.
● Lisa Charlotte Baudouin Lie is a performing artist, director, actor, playwright, and author. Nordenfjeldske Horlaug is a platform for artistic exploration of soul-tending and participatory practices. The project is grounded in oral structures that revolve around a psychogeographic narrative. All performers contribute both creatively and performatively in the lived experience of the place, and the different nights – which both resemble and differ from one another – become kaleidoscopic through repetition.
Lie has previously presented works such as Blue Motell, I Cloni, and Skogsunderholdning at Black Box teater. She was educated at the Academy of Performing Arts (2003) and Stockholm University of the Arts (2013), and has recently completed a PhD in artistic research at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO). She has been a playwright-in-residence at Dramatikkens hus and has created award-winning performances. Her most recent work was Fønix at the Norwegian National Opera.
