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Scenes from a marriage – More humor than drama



Scener fra et ekteskap (Scenes from a marriage) by Ingmar Bergman

Premiere 30. August 2012, Oslo Nye Teater
Regi: Marit Moum Aune
Linn Skåber as Marianne, S. Harry S. Hauge as Johan

More humor than drama

Review by Lisa Strindberg. Photos: Henning Høholt
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Linn Skåber and Svein Harry S. Hauge as Mariann and Johan in Ingmar Bergmans Scenes from a marriage at Oslo Nye Teater, regi: Marit Moum Aune. Foto: Henning Høholt

OSLO: Director Marit Moum Aune is known for her talent for comedy, and she brings out all possible humor in Ingmar Bergmans well known play. For the role of Marianne she has chosen a reputed comedian, Linn Skåber, who knows how to deliver a line to make people laugh. Thus Aunes staging of Scenes from a marriage gives more entertainment than engagement. The audience bursts out laughing from the start and keeps laughing all through the first act, while the second act also invites to a certain degree of reflection.

Director Aune makes a good move by letting the actors talk to the audience directly. She has reduced the number of actors from four to two to focus solely on Marianne and Johan. Thus, the interview that opens the play is carried out by Marianne and Johan simply giving their answers to an imaginary journalist, talking out to the audience. And Linn Skåber and S.Harry S.Hauge introduce new scenes by explaining where and when in life Marianne and Johan are as the next scene starts.

Bergmans story of the emotional ups and downs, prides and prejudices of a married couple, fathoms also the tragic depth of the challenge of marriage. In the play we meet them when they have been married for ten years. Marianne and Johan have two children and a wider circle of family that causes conflicts between them. The opening interview explaines how they met and why they got married. It was not really Love, says Marianne.
She suggests that the real problem is that they have no problems. Well, she is soon to get one. Johan tells her he has fallen in love with a young woman and is off the next day to Paris with her. For six months.

But before that happens, Bergman takes them to see Ibsens A dolls house. Home again, Marianne reads Noras lines about the importance of finding out who you are – with a humoristic touch. The ridicule could be in coherence with Bergmans intention, as Johan responds by exclaiming, “Words, ords, words !”, but it could also be a critical expose of a male prejudice. In his own version he lets Liv Ullman take Nora seriously.

Linn Skåber and Svein Harry S. Hauge as Mariann and Johan in Ingmar Bergmans Scenes from a marriage at Oslo Nye Teater, regi: Marit Moum Aune. Foto: Henning Høholt

Oslo Nye Theater presents a play of 140 minutes while Ingmar Bergmans Scener ur ett äktenskap from 1973 is 281 minutes long,( cut to 6 episodes for television). Many will remember Ingmar Bergmans original and his actors Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson.

Marianne and Johans meetings through ten years of life with other partners expose a shift in balance of power between them. A question for Johan is whether to sign, or not to sign the divorce-papers. As Marianne grows stronger, he grows more humble. Another ten years wiser at the end of the play, Marianne and Johan are more mature, and their attitudes land the play on a tone of reflection. Aunes stage version also invites to personal marital
memories, but it is not a heartgrabber

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. There is always a distance to the couple on stage.

Review by Lisa Strindberg