Fosse: Plays Six Read online

  JON FOSSE: PLAYS SIX

  Jon Fosse

  PLAYS SIX

  Rambuku

  Over There

  These Eyes

  Girl in Yellow Raincoat

  Christmas Tree Song

  Sea

  Translated by May-Brit Akerholt

  Freedom

  Translated by Neil Howard

  OBERON BOOKS

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  This collection first published in 2014 by Oberon Books Ltd

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  Rambuku (Rambuku) © 2007 by Jon Fosse and Det Norske Samlaget. Shadows

  (Skuggar) © 2007 by Jon Fosse and Det Norske Samlaget.

  Freedom (Fridom) © 2011 by Jon Fosse and Det Norske Samlaget.

  Over There (Der borte) © 2011 by Jon Fosse and Det Norske Samlaget.

  These Eyes (Dessa auga) © 2009 by Jon Fosse and Det Norske Samlaget.

  Girl in Yellow Raincoat (Jente i gul regnjakke) © 2010 by Jon Fosse and Det Norske Samlaget.

  Published by permission of Rowohlt Verlag GmbH, Reinbek bei Hamburg.

  Copyright © Jon Fosse, 2014

  Jon Fosse is hereby identified as author of these plays in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted his moral rights.

  All translations (except Freedom) © May-Brit Akerholt, 2014

  Freedom © Neil Howard, 2014

  May-Brit Akerholt is hereby identified as translator of these plays in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act1988. The translator has asserted her moral rights. Neil Howard is hereby identified as translator of Freedom in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act1988. The translator has asserted his moral rights.

  All rights whatsoever in these plays are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. in English should be made before commencement of rehearsal to Casarotto Ramsay Associates, Waverley House, 7-12 Noel Street, London W1F 8GQ. No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the author’s prior written consent.

  All rights whatsoever in these translations are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to the translator c/o Oberon Books. No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the titles or the texts of the translations without the translator’s prior written consent.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  PB ISBN: 978-1-78319-086-7

  EPUB ISBN: 978-1-78319-585-5

  Cover design by James Illman

  Printed and bound by Marston Book Services, Didcot.

  Contents

  Foreword

  Rambuku

  Freedom

  Over There

  These Eyes

  Girl in Yellow Raincoat

  Christmas Tree Song

  Sea

  Foreword

  by Berit Gullberg

  Translated by May-Brit Akerholt

  Twenty years ago, Jon Fosse was known as a poet and essayist in some well-read circles; his future success as a dramatist was at its very beginning. Maybe one could call him the reluctant playwright at the start of this period. His plays were being produced in Norway, although with a certain caution, later to move across the borders to insightful and quality-hungry theatres, most of them small, with underground status.

  Directors were fascinated by the musical, stringent minimalism and the profundity yet apparent simpleness of his stories.

  The Swedish author and critic Leif Zern, who has followed Fosse’s career from the beginning, should, eventually, write The Luminous Darkness, an enlightening book about Fosse which highlights the mysticism of the author’s steadily growing body of work. As the years have passed, agents, directors, translators and other fiery spirits have transferred the flaming torch between theatres in various countries.

  From having been a modestly recognised author, Jon Fosse now has a weighty and luminous name as a dramatist across continents. Only India and Africa are left. His more than forty plays are translated to all the European languages as well as to Farsi, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian. We know of at least 900 productions, and I believe that an unspecified number of performances take place without our knowledge and without payment of any copyright. At the beginning of the 2000s, a tsunami of Fosse plays premiered in Germany as well as France, where the wave is still rolling on. The great French director Claude Régy put Fosse on the world map with his outstanding and sensational production of Someone Is Going to Come in 1999 at Théâtre Nanterre in Paris. After that, a long line of Europe’s leading directors continued to stage a series of Jon Fosse’s plays. It was almost like a race. The first English production, The Child, took place at the Gate Theatre in London in 1998, directed by Ramin Gray. The performance was met with mild and courteous interest. A few productions followed, among them Nightsongs directed by Katie Mitchell in David Harrower’s translation at the Royal Court, but that was a less successful event. It proved difficult to mount another attempt with any great success. Several other translators tried their talents on Fosse’s texts, among them Geoffrey Mutton and Ann Henning, and in USA, Sara Cameron Sunde. But the truly great artistic break-through in UK would not happen until May 2011, when Fosse finally managed to bring English critics as well as audiences enthusiastically into his world. I am referring to the recently tragically deceased French director Patrice Chéreau’s illuminating, vibrant staging of I Am the Wind at the Young Vic in London, in Simon Stephens’ version. It muted all resistance in England. Simon Stephens and Patrice Chéreau travelled to Jon Fosse in Bergen before the rehearsals. Simon told me later: ‘It was a special night. One of the most beautiful nights in my working life. It felt like a special honour to spend the evening with these two towers of European theatre.’

  Welcome to Fosse’s illuminating darkness!

  RAMBUKU

  Characters

  SHE

  HE

  RAMBUKU

  Rambuku premiered at Det Norske Teatret –

  The Norwegian Theatre – 2 February 2006.

  Director: Kai Johnsen

  Designer: Kari Gravklev

  Cast:

  She: Ragnhild Hilt

  He: Svein Erik Brodal

  Rambuku: Morten Espeland

  A living-room

  An elderly woman in an overcoat and with a small bag over her shoulder

  An elderly man in an overcoat

  SHE

  So

  yes

  yes here we are

  quite short pause

  and how often haven’t we been

  standing here

  quite short pause

  like this

  quite short pause

  it is as if

  we have always been here

  quite short pause

  just been here

  quite short pause

  year in and year out

  have you and I

  been here

  quite s
hort pause

  always

  short pause

  and you don’t say anything

  Why don’t you say something

  quite short pause

  can’t you say something

  quite short pause

  don’t just stand there

  please

  quite short pause

  you just stand there

  quite short pause

  and look and look

  yes

  quite short pause

  but don’t do it

  don’t just stand there

  and look and look

  can’t you do something

  quite short pause

  say something

  short pause

  why don’t you say something

  surely you can say something

  talk to me

  can’t you

  quite short pause

  you can

  can’t you

  quite short pause

  say something then

  short pause

  oh well

  just stand there

  then

  just stand there

  quite short pause

  yes

  yes why don’t you

  quite short pause

  but it can’t just be

  like this

  quite short pause

  no

  no that’s not possible

  Quite short pause

  And why won’t you say anything

  Long pause

  But do you know

  quite long pause

  yes

  yes that today’s the day

  when you and I

  are going to Rambuku

  you know that

  laughs briefly to herself

  we’re going

  all the way to Rambuku

  quite short pause

  you know that

  don’t you

  quite short pause

  you know that

  right

  short pause

  but why can’t you answer

  say something

  say

  yes say if you know it

  say if you know that today you and I

  are going to Rambuku

  quite short pause

  but you don’t answer

  don’t say anything

  quite short pause

  no matter what I say

  you don’t answer

  but it’s true

  that today you and I are going

  to Rambuku

  quite short pause

  for you know that far away somewhere

  there is Rambuku

  quite short pause

  and there we shall live

  there you and I

  shall live now

  Short pause

  Yes we shall

  Quite short pause

  You and I

  shall live there

  quite short pause

  yes

  quite short pause

  and do you know

  what it’s like in Rambuku

  no

  I don’t suppose you do

  short pause

  in Rambuku there are angels

  and trees

  trees that are

  almost

  translucent

  and they sway in the wind

  quite short pause

  and there are bright birds there too

  yes

  there in Rambuku

  and many people I know

  and many people you know

  are already in Rambuku

  quite short pause

  they are there

  quite short pause

  yes all those I miss

  are there

  quite short pause

  all those I haven’t seen

  for a long time

  they’re there

  yes

  yes and your friends too

  they too are there

  yes they’re there in Rambuku

  you know that

  quite short pause

  and if you don’t know it

  it doesn’t matter

  yes not as long as

  I know it

  quite short pause

  for Rambuku exists

  whether you know about it

  or not

  I know that

  yes

  Short pause

  And in Rambuku

  there are

  quite short pause

  such big trees

  and such big birds

  laughs to herself

  yes

  yes big birds

  quite short pause

  no the birds are not as big as houses

  but they’re still big

  very big

  quite short pause

  and you can hear songs

  in Rambuku

  fine songs

  sung by voices

  so very thin and light

  so very deep and dark

  quite short pause

  and the songs

  they swing

  like the thin branches of a tree

  in a strong wind

  laughs to herself

  yes the voices swing

  round and round

  they are fine songs

  quite short pause

  and the sea there

  in Rambuku

  is as blue and deep

  as the bluest sky

  and the waves there

  yes they are like clouds

  and when you get there

  yes to Rambuku

  you don’t feel cold and you don’t feel pain

  I know that

  You can look forward to it

  quite short pause

  yes

  yes look forward to it

  Quite short pause

  It’s true

  Quite short pause

  For that’s how it is

  in Rambuku

  Short pause

  And in Rambuku

  there are good people

  quite short pause

  there I can be with

  quite short pause

  mum

  dad

  my sister

  my grandparents

  quite short pause

  for they are in Rambuku

  short pause

  and those who live there

  in Rambuku

  they understand everything

  quite short pause

  yes you can see it in the light of their eyes

  quite short pause

  in the sudden light of their eyes

  short pause

  don’t you agree

  quite short pause

  yes I know you agree

  don’t you

  don’t you agree

  quite short pause

  why can’t you answer

  say something

  don’t just stand there

  quite short pause

  you must say something

  short pause

  but of course you agree

  quite short pause

  because you know

  of course

  that it’s like that

  in Rambuku

  quite short pause

  and of course you know

  that today we are going

  to Rambuku

  quite short pause

  how could I think

  that you don’t know that

  for you and I

  standing here

  quite short pause

  are ready to go to Rambuku

  Everything is ready

  And today it will happen

  I know that

  yes

  quite short pause

  for now

  today

  Rambuku is coming


  quite short pause

  and then we shall go

  across seas

  across land

  across sky and sea

  and all the way to Rambuku

  you and I shall go

  and there we shall be

  and live in Rambuku’s being

  quite short pause

  there I shall live in a song

  she laughs briefly to herself, quite short pause

  I shall live in Rambuku’s song

  She laughs a little to herself

  And we shall be together

  in Rambuku

  you and I

  in a house

  which is not a house

  in a day

  which is not a day

  in a night

  which is not a night

  yes

  yes there

  in Rambuku

  shall we be

  you and I

  quite short pause

  and everything’s ready

  everything

  yes

  quite short pause

  everything

  everything that can be done

  has been done

  quite short pause

  and I’ve spent many years

  getting it ready

  quite short pause

  yes you know that

  Quite short pause

  You know that

  Quite short pause

  But you don’t say anything

  quite short pause

  no matter what I say

  you just stand there

  and look and look

  Quite short pause

  But you

  quite short pause

  can hear the song

  from Rambuku

  quite short pause

  how could I’ve thought

  quite short pause

  that you couldn’t hear the song

  and not know that today’s the day

  quite short pause

  when Rambuku will open up

  Short pause

  Today Rambuku is coming

  so now

  yes

  quite short pause

  yes now it’s over

  quite short pause

  now

  now this is over

  quite short pause

  now

  do you understand that

  now this no longer exists

  quite short pause

  for now Rambuku shall begin

  short pause

  and I know you can hear the song

  quite short pause

  from Rambuku

  can you hear it

  the song is far away

  and very near

  yes it is

  can you hear it

  can you hear Rambuku sing

  quite short pause

  yes

  yes I know you can

  quite short pause

  I know you can hear Rambuku sing

  for everyone who listens

  can hear Rambuku sing