An Enemy of the People in Oslo

OSLO, Norway, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

The International Ibsen Festival in Oslo is the original and has inspired Ibsen
Festivals around the world from Tokyo to Delhi to Minnesota. This festival hosts the
world’s biggest theatre award and stages a very different version of An Enemy of the
People.

An Enemy of the People could not be more relevant. A play about an individual who
stands against his own people, Rimini Protokoll turns it into a study of the city today
asking: Do you agree that in matters of right and wrong the individual should take
precedence over the multitude? Is “the strongest man in the world (…) the man who stands
most alone?”

The Ibsen Festival has become an influential voice in world theatre and is not scared
of controversy. Ibsen was a controversial playwright who changed theatre in Europe
dramatically. The festival reflects this by showcasing truly original versions of Ibsen’s
own plays and performances by influential international playwrights and directors.

The International Ibsen Award is the world’s biggest theatre award. This year, the
award goes to German composer and director Heiner Goebbels. Two guest performances by
Goebbels, Eraritjaritjaka and Stifters Dinge are included in the festival programme and
the award ceremony and reception take place Saturday 8th September.

It is extraordinary that a little country in the far north has produced such
worldclass playwrights; Ibsen is one of the wold’s most famous playwrights, contemporary
Jon Fosse is being performed all over the world and now Arne Lygre is set to follow in
Fosse’s footsteps. Arne Lygre’s I disappear will be performed during the festival.

The International Ibsen Festival is hosted by the National Theatre in Oslo 23rd
August-9th September 2012.

Notes to editors:

        - Ibsen was born in Norway in 1828
        - Some of his most famous plays are A Doll's House, Ghosts, Peer Gynt and Hedda
          Gabler
        - Ibsen has been translated into 78 languages and performed in countries all
          over the world for over 100 years
        - Ibsen influenced European writers such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and
          James Joyce
        - Many consider Ibsen the greatest playwright since Shakespeare
        - Ibsen spent much of his life in Germany and Italy

Festival press passes and invites to the award ceremony for the International Ibsen
Award are available. For more information, please visit nationaltheatret.no
[http://nationaltheatret.no/Nationaltheateret/International ] and
http://www.internationalibsenaward.com or contact publicity manager Stine Strachan on
stine.strachan@nationaltheatret.no.

SOURCE National Theatret