The Norwegians

Tonight Sue and I went to see The Norwegians, “a world of intrigue and frozen ice, of burning desire and dark comic mania,” a play written by C. Denby Swanson, a former Smith student now living in Texas, making a name for herself as a playwright. The play, chosen as part of the "Off the Rails Festival," lives up to its description and the acting is terrific, though I felt the direction was static and the timing slow. It would have worked better with more movement and a faster pace, and it wasn’t helped by the weather. The theatre had no air conditioning, and we’re in the middle of a heat wave. It was 94F/34C, and the sell-out audience was handed free bottles of water and cold wet rags to put around our necks. It was worse for the actors. The play is set in Minneapolis in the winter, and the actors had to wear heavy (Norwegian) sweaters under theatre lights. Wonderful what theatre people will do for art. Despite the heat and the stiff directing, the cast was brilliant and brought out the irony and intelligence as well as the comedy.

Kudos to the playwright. She has labored long and hard to develop her craft, and I'm thrilled the Portland theatre company selected her play.