I Am the Wind

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I Am the Wind (Nynorsk : Eg er vinden) is a 2007 play by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It is about two men, The One and The Other, who travel by boat until The One commits suicide by drowning himself.

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Production history

The play was written for the Bergen International Festival where it premiered on 24 May 2007, directed by Eirik Stubø and starring Ole Johan Skjelbred-Knutsen and Fridtjov Såheim. The same version was performed at the National Theatre in Oslo from 4 October the same year. Kari Gravklev was nominated for the Hedda Award for Best Scenography/Costumes/Lighting. [1]

An English-language production was directed by Patrice Chéreau in 2011 for the Festival d'Avignon, and also performed in London, Paris, Vienna, Lyon and Barcelona. [2] A version directed by Paul Takacs was performed at the 59E59 Theaters in New York City in 2014. [3]

Reception

Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote:

I hated this play while I was watching it. But, blow me down, I woke up this morning and found that I Am the Wind was still whirling round in my head like the twister in The Wizard of Oz . When a play adheres in the memory like this, it’s usually a sign that it has some merit. [4]

Spencer described the plot and production, and wrote:

Even as I write, I realise all this sounds unbearably pretentious – and much of it is. Yet lurking in the depths of this 70-minute drama is a strong apprehension of both the fleeting nature of human relationships and the terrible listlessness and lack of will that are symptomatic of chronic depression. [4]

The play was reviewed in The New York Times in 2014 by Ben Brantley:

An elliptical and very brief play (it ran about an hour when I saw it), I Am the Wind is not for those who believe that the self-conscious discussion of things cosmic should be put aside after graduation from college. But, as translated by the eminent British playwright Simon Stephens ( Harper Regan ), Mr. Fosse's terse, rhythmic script captures a gut-level anxiety about elemental questions of identity. [3]

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References

  1. "Eg er vinden". Sceneweb (in Norwegian). Danse- og teatersentrum. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  2. "I Am the Wind". Festival d'Avignon . Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  3. 1 2 Brantley, Ben (2014-01-16). "Converse All You Want, but Don't Expect Connection". The New York Times . Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  4. 1 2 Spencer, Charles (2011-05-11). "I Am the Wind, Young Vic, review". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 2016-01-23.