Norwegian Theatre Academy
The Acting Course

As head of the Acting Department at the Norwegian Theatre Academy, it is my job to try to foresee what theatre art is going to look like in the future and what will be required of actors facing tomorrow's audiences. I am looking for students who are interested in exploring these issues in the coming years.

As a result of the increasing trend of theatricalisation within politics and the media, in which the boundaries between the private and public spheres have virtually been erased, the theatre can now play a different role than it did 50 or 100 years ago. The psychological drama was intended to give the public a glimpse of a private sphere concealed from the public eye. Today, the theatre has a different function - it has become a place where we make manifest, play with and raise questions about the level of theatricalisation we are witnessing in society through such phenomena as reality series, soaps and docudramas. This is theatre and performance that experiments with the relationship between fiction and reality.

I wish to challenge students and make them realise that there are many different kinds of theatre and just as many approaches to performing on a stage (or in a staged space) and communicating with an audience. Today, directors and audiences are to a great extent looking for actors who have a broad range of expression. It is less about playing someone else and getting under the psychological skin of the character, but rather about being yourself and being able to convince in relation to what it is that you want to get across in the meeting with an audience. It means having to be in touch with your own creativity and inventiveness, and about daring to lay yourself bare and be open to the moment. Theatre is a collective art form and the ability to cooperate is emphasised at the academy. The acting students must be able to work together as an ensemble and take responsibility for the group dynamics working in a constructive way, as well as being able to acquire personal knowledge.

At the Norwegian Theatre Academy, students will acquire a reflective attitude to their role as actors through focusing on the interaction between theory and practice. Sometimes our practice will consist of acting in dramatic productions and plays, at other times it will be about functioning as a performer in a stage production that lies closer to the definition of the dance theatre or performance theatre tradition.  The theatrical art we work on is often characterised by terms such as "dramaturgy of equivalence of elements", "physical theatre", visual theatre" or "performance". We also research into a theatre and performance art practice, which does not project a total and coherent fictional universe, but  which challenge the classical Aristotelian narrative through a diversity of performative strategies. It may consist of simultaneous, fragmented, documentary or compositional narrative structures.

Through their education, the students get to experiment with classical and modern texts in order to make them more relevant to our times. They learn what it means to interpret a text, place it in their own bodies and bring it alive. And how to relate to space and composition, and how to use sound, light and video as tools and as parts of their own expressive style that are equally valuable. At the academy, words and images have an equal part in telling the story. That is why the acting students and scenography students also cooperate closely on many projects. The fundamental aspects of all forms of "live" performance in front of an audience are about body, voice and presence. The students have to work on their body control through regular training in skills such as dance, yoga, the Feldenkrais method, contact improvisation etc. They are given regular voice training, primarily in the form of song tuition and they have to work continuously on their awareness of what constitutes presence, both physically and intellectually. They learn about different forms of presence as actors and performers in different types of productions, as well as working on site-specific and performance-related forms of expression. There are many different paths to the goal. Combined with play, presence creates integrity and communication.

The academy has a transdisciplinary approach, which means that we explore the multifaceted expressions of theatre art in combination with methods and styles from other art forms. We do not try to erect barriers between these different forms of expression, but we allow them all to be encompassed within the understanding of the stage - and contemporary art in general. Of course, this is nothing new and nor are we the only ones taking this approach - except in Norway. Many European institutions that educate theatre artists, including actors, take a similar approach. This interdisciplinary approach reflects the age we live in and contemporary art in general. In Norway, the Norwegian Theatre Academy at Østfold University College represents something different in relation to the two other institutions offering education in acting in this country, namely Oslo National Academy of the Arts and Nord Trøndelag University College.

We wish to train versatile artists who can create their own projects and handle their own futures, but who can function equally well as actors and performers for directors and choreographers in collaboration with other artists. We are looking for determined and reflective students with a playful attitude. Over a period of three years they will be given an opportunity to meet many Norwegian and international resource persons from the theatre and art world. They will give students insight into different methods and approaches to their work, they will inspire and demonstrate that there are many different ways of seeking one's own form of expression. The students will work both under supervision and on independent tasks. Together with the academy's teaching staff, the students will take part in forming their own education and finding out what best suits their interests and abilities. During three-year course of education it is important for students to not only find out how theatre is created, but also why!

I cannot teach someone how to be an artist, but I can make a creative space available, point to the possibilities and provide guidance. And I can refer to other people's work as examples of different paths that can be taken to explore one's own talent.

Camilla Eeg
Head of the Acting Department