“Aesthetically “De Utvalgte” exceed most of Norwegian theater: But they make our aesthetic values go straight to the windpipe.” – Therese Bjørneboe, Aftenposten.
“Let alone Boya Bøckman’s amazing video projections make “The Dream” challenging and unsettling theater”. – IdaLou Larsen, Klassekampen.
“The Dream lived up to many of the criteria that were the basis for the price. It is a performance of high artistic quality that emanates from a Norwegian reality with an original text and with profound actor achievements, as well as an obsessive use of modern technology seamlessly integrated.” – Thea Stabell, Torshovteatrets Venner 2010.
“With its performance The Dream, De Utvalgte address a trend that has already for a long time characterized film, literature, and the visual arts; longing for authenticity. The need to be authentic. Or at least: pretend that it is. The production’s strength lies however not in the game of fiction and fact, but in the authentic meeting between artists who are not pretending. “- Kari Saanum, Scenekunst.no.
The play unfolds in Ella’s idyllic summer house on the shore. Ella is an elderly lady who during the summer has started a close friendship with the much younger man Torbjørn who lives in a caravan on an overgrown tennis court in the neighborhood. They have many common interests and enjoy each other’s company, although both probably recognize the other’s hidden motives. Tactfulness leads them into the binding maze of mixed messages.
Excerpts: “Hahaha. The dream was the that … .. and I have thought about this for ten years or something. That having my own separate house, and having trees that can be rained on, and sunshine on, and snow … which can be a tiny world in itself, then. Which night falls on … and morning, and that there are birds in it and stuff. In a way it’s like owning nature and a view … and room where I can have my books and a kitchen where I can make my food and stuff … ..right? ”
With the performance The Dream, De Utvalgte continue to explore their own form of documentary theater and aesthetics. As in the performances Bang-Bang Club and Jimmy Young, they blur the distinction between fiction and reality through a multimedia expression.
De Utvalgte received Torshovteatret’s friends Prize 2010 for The Dream. Boya Bøckman was nominated for the Hedda Award for special artistic achievement with the stage production for this event.
