Here is some information about distinctly ‘Nordic’ performers appearing here in Edinburgh over the festival period.
Leif Ove Andsnes (Norwegian)
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is returning to the Edinburgh International Festival on 16 August only with music by two of the composers most dear to him. Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is one of the most gifted musicians of his generation, his immaculate performances establishing a rapturous atmosphere with their clear-headed, penetrating interpretations. Thursday 16 August, 11am The Queen’s Hall Tickets: £8 – £29 p>
Kåre Conradi Peer Gynt (Norwegian)
Conradi brings his one man adaptation of Ibsen’s classic tale to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012. Kåre stars in a one man exploration of ‘Peer Gynt’, as you have never seen it before. Inspired by the British Shakespeare Company, this is the first production from the newly founded Norwegian Ibsen Company. Using just one prop and a mixture of monologue and soliloquy Kåre opens up Henrik Ibsen’s classic Norwegian tale in English to a whole new audience. (I’ve seen this – a brilliant performance and perhaps the first time I both understood the Ibsen play AND the way it reflects Norwegian thinking. But you have to fight to find the room at the venue & he isn’t easily found online Fringe site So call 08452601234 for tickets. It is worth it! LR) College of Art, Lady Lawson Street, 4 – 27 August
Karl Ove Knausgaard (Norwegian)
Knausgaard is at the Edinburgh Book Festival in the event “Family Dramas Exposed” with Emylia Hall on 24 August. Karl Ove Knausgaard’s A Death in the Family is a Proustian exploration of his own past, in which the author creates a universal story of the struggles we all face. 3:00pm – 4:00pm Writers’ Retreat Tickets: £7.00, £5.00
Inspired by Nordic mythology Norwegian theatre company Stella Polaris perform The Shaman’s Dream a ritual celebrating life, nature and history. Figures on stilts, animal masks, balls of fire and deep base drums will stretch the imagination in all directions and create a magical ritual. Through a world of circus, myths and storytelling we will burst open the borders between fantasy and reality, and give our audience an experience without the boundaries of time and space. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 24-25 August, 8.30 PM
Artem Kretov based on Knut Hamsun’s Hunger (Russian & Norwegian)
Independent Russian artist Artem Kretov presents an English premiere of Hunger based on the Nobel prize wining novel by Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun. Directed by Andrey Vasiliev internationally acclaimed highly talented play writer, Hunger’ reveals the drama of an impoverished unrecognized young artist wondering around the city of Christiania (Oslo). Unwilling to pursue a commercial path he is condemned to starvation in a wealthy greedy metropolis. His physical and mental decay is pictured in a series of encounters, some funny and extravagant, others full of despair and pain. 14 – 27 August, 7.10pm (75min) Paradise Studio St Augustine’s (Venue 152) George IV Bridge
Continuous Growth (Finns)
The people who brought you the award-winning hit The Overcoat – A Comedy of Working Life at the Fringe 2011 ***** (Scotsman now bring you a comedy about productivity. Continuous Growth tells the amazing and eventful story of how Andy – an ordinary Scottish family man – loses his job, starts a business, and manages to bring down the entire world economy in his own special way. A riotous satire about ordinary people’s need to find meaning amidst chaos, debt and a runaway global financial system. NO performances on 13th and 20th August.
1.8.2012 12:10 – 27.8.2012 Pleasance Dome (venue 23), Potterow 0131 556 6550 Edinburgh Fringe
My Elevator Days (Finns)
Elderly gentleman seeks companion. For conversation, only.
Previous confidants include – his mother, Kafka (a dog), Grace Kelly (the beloved and greatly missed), Enok (an elevator), and Diana (a strictly hands-off sex worker turned would be dog walker).
Hobbies: gate-crashing funerals and weddings. Bengt Ahlfors’ exquisite monologue has been a permanent fixture in the Helsinki repertoire since 2006 and is widely produced throughout Europe.
It comes to the Edinburgh Fringe in a translation by Henning Koch. NO perf on 13th and 20th August.
1.8.2012 12:30 – 27.8.2012 Pleasance Courtyard (venue no 33), 0131 556 6550 Ace Production
FORK -ElectroVocal Circus (Finns)
The talk of 2011’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Finnish a cappella rock group FORK return with a revamped, stripped down production that twists a cappella into a late nite groove. This year’s ElectroVocal Circus show will see the band getting up close and personal in an informal and intimate setting as they mix ingenious arrangements and electrifying vocals with glitzy glamour and downright sauciness. Popular numbers from the likes of Lady GaGa, Queen and Led Zeppelin are reinterpreted vocally (no backing tapes allowed!) with high energy, sassy elegance and tongue-in-cheek humour that positively encourages audiences to sing and dance in the aisles.
Regularly selling out their concerts in Scandinavia, FORK made their UK debut last August when they brought their Pink Noise by FORK production to Edinburgh and rapidly became the talk of the town.
4.8.2012 22:25 – 26.8.2012 Teatro –Assembly George Square, Edinburgh Fork Assembly