Ornitofilene
In a village in southern Italy, one
of the local leaders recognises, amongst a group of wealthy German
tourists, many of the nazi occupiers who had once oppressed,
tortured and killed many of the villagers.
The performance is centred on a
story full of mocking irony uncovered by Jens Bjørneboe in the
early sixties, those "glorious years" of the economic boom. The
Germans are rich and opposed to violence. The Italians are poor and
ferocious: they revel in the slaughter of the migrant birds which
fly over their sun-scorched, rocky coast. These are cooked and
eaten in their thousands, each bird no more than a mouthful, but
delicious. The Germans declare: "You must stop your hunting. We
will build a tourist paradise here in your village. You will be
well-off. But no civilised foreigner will want to come to a place
where there is so much senseless killing".
These are the years when foreign
tourism explodes, especially amongst the Germans, and becomes one
of the most important industries in Italy. It is also the time
when, in Europe, ecology starts to become a popular religion. The
ex-torturers and ex-occupiers now come to bring well-being and to
defend (bird) life. Their ex-victims, as poor as ever, resist the
new order in the name of their own independence and dignity, and
want to continue to plunder nature. But in the end all the men of
the village choose progress, modernisation and well-being, whatever
the source. The daughter of the village leader commits suicide:
"Those who loved me have abandoned me. Now I shall see how
alone one is in death". Her father laughs mockingly and, turning to
the spectators, announces: "Your
children!".
This is the first of many suicides to be encountered in the
eighteen performances of the "dark legend".
Created in Oslo, during the first
months of Odin Teatret's existence, in the total isolation of a
nuclear bomb shelter.
Actors
Anne-Trine Grimnes, Else Marie Laukvik, Tor Sannum, Torgeir
Wethal
Text: Jens Bjørneboe
Architect: Ole Daniel Bruun
Scenic space: Odin Teatret
Adaptation and directing: Eugenio Barba
Language: Norwegian
Number of spectators per
performance: 120
51 performances from October 1965 to March
1966
On Tour
Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden