Vice-Rector at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway Rikke Gürgens Gjærum has become the new director of the Kven National Theatre. Photo: Tommy Hansen / UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

A new performance by the Kven Theatre (Kvääniteatteri) from Norway, entirely in the Kven language, has been recently shown in France and the Netherlands. The national minority theatre's performance of "Let the Children Come to Me" was a huge success. It received a warm reception and media coverage, especially in France, where it was broadcast on television.

The theatre’s new performance is part of the European project “Phōnē – Giving Minority Languages ​​a Voice”, in which the Kven theatre has been involved since the project’s inception and its EU funding in 2022. Theatre manager Frank Jørstad describes the project as a cooperation network in which eight European minority theatres work together to strengthen Europe’s linguistic and cultural diversity through theatre and performing arts. In addition to the Kven theatre, the network includes national minorities theatres from the Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Italy, France, Spain and Wales.

The practical work of the Kven theatre is organised in such a way that the Breton Theatre (Teatr Piba) in France and the Frisian Theatre (Tryater) in the Netherlands present their productions in each other’s theatres.

Some of the theatre's plays will be shown in Nordreisa, Norway, on September 8, 2024. Then we will organize a theatre festival, which will include theatres from France and the Netherlands, says Jorstad.

Jorstad notes that it was difficult to stage a play in a language that so few people speak today: "One of the challenges is that I am not a native speaker, but knowing how to act in theatre helped me, which solved the problem," he recalls.

Source: NRK

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