Anne Ma ville helst vært tøff cowgirl!
[ultimate_spacer height=»60″ height_on_tabs=»40″ height_on_mob=»40″]Hun har vært inderlig, øm, voldsom, lyrisk og ustyrtelig morsom. Anne Ma Usterud er den folkekjære veteranen som har ikledd seg så mange roller for Agder Teater at verken vi eller hun klarer å huske alle. Men sin drømmerolle har hun aldri spilt: Ville Vestens skarpskytterdronning Annie Oakley i Irving Berlin-musikalen ”Annie Get Your Gun”.
– Why did you want that particular role?
She literally chews on the answer—over a salad lunch in Kilden’s cafeteria—just before putting on her makeup and costume for tonight’s performance of “The Sound of Music.”
“Yes, why Annie?” Anne Ma chews thoughtfully on her green salad. “It’s a great musical. And I’ve always admired her. I thought she was really tough when I was young,” explains Agder Theater’s longest-serving actor. In addition to her nuanced acting skills, she has also delighted audiences far and wide with her singing.
Chat Noir
She began her career as a young girl, singing in a group with her father and brother back home in Kristiansand. At the age of eleven, she performed at a press show at Tresse in Kristiansand, wearing a frilly dress with an accordion strapped to her waist, with the famous TV personality Odd Grythe serving as the emcee. And from him, she received a lesson in performing in front of an audience. When, after finishing her song, she turned her back to the audience to put down her accordion, the young star received a clear message from the veteran: “You don’t turn your backside to the audience, young lady!”
Photo: Erik Ruud“I’ve never done that since, unless it’s listed as directing!” she chuckles.
Anne Ma’s career took a major leap forward when, at the age of 16, she was selected for a one-year engagement at Norway’s undisputed leading venue for revue theater: Chat Noir in Oslo.
“That was my acting training, after all. Standing on stage at Chat Noir and performing the same show 250 times.” She chuckles. … Standing there through thick and thin!
– But how did 16-year-old Anne Margrethe Husby from Kristiansand end up on such a prestigious and important stage—in 1968?
– I had started recording albums and had appeared on a few TV shows, including “Popcorn” on NRK. Then one day the phone rang, and someone who introduced himself as Egil Monn Iversen asked if I wanted to join Chat Noir. – Hehe, who’s messing with me???? Anne Ma cheerfully recalls her first reaction. But, yeah…. It was actually him, she says of the call from the man who for decades was the powerful “godfather” of Norwegian revue and popular music.
Anne Ma called her mom and dad in Kristiansand to ask for advice.
– Around the same time, bandleader Terje Fjærn called me and asked if I wanted to be a vocalist with them alongside Gro Anita Schønn. So what did I do? I turned down the band. I didn’t want to be a pop star. I wanted to be on stage and, ideally, apply to the Theater School later. That’s why I said yes to Chat Noir. And goodness—"everyone" was there back then: Leif Juster, Arve Opsahl, Elsa Lystad, Sølvi Wang. And then Martin Ljung joined them too. I even got to meet Arvid Nilssen himself. He’d had a stroke and lost his ability to speak, but the way he looked at me spoke volumes. Fantastic! Powerful, recalls Anne Ma, still moved by her encounter with one of the Norwegian revue scene’s most legendary actors nearly fifty years ago.
Anne Ma Usterud and Arnhild Litlere in “Mugg”.Went home
– And what happened next? What did this year at Chat Noir lead to?
“I went back home to Kristiansand and trained to become a music teacher. I felt young and alone in Oslo, and I wanted to devote my life to something meaningful. That’s why I went home. And on the steps of the conservatory, I met Jan Erik,” says Anne Ma, recounting the beginning of her long partnership with her musical partner and life companion, Jan Erik Usterud.
– He opened the door for me, and his mother worked in the office. She invited me in… Then it turned out we had a mutual acquaintance in the songwriter Øyvind Smestad, and that was that.
– So Miss Husby became Mrs. Usterud?
– She did, eventually…. But first we finished our education, and then things just went that way. And right from the start, Jan Erik and I began playing folk songs together.
– But how did you end up at Agder Teater?
– It all started in the ’90s with Kåre Zachariassen’s *Alle tiders bestefar*, which I directed and for which Jan Erik was the music director. Theater director Gunnar Grimstad stopped by the stage to watch what we were doing. A year later, he called and said they needed a “Magdelone.” I didn’t know what that was (ed. note: A voluptuous role in Holberg’s “Den Stundeløse”) … Would I come down and talk to Bentein Baardson? Goodness, just the thought of it gives me chills. But I showed up, and he thought I’d already said yes, and showed me around all the workshops where I got to meet everyone. So, hello, we’ll start rehearsals like this and that… Well, then it was back to music school to ask for a little leave of absence. I tried to work a bit in between rehearsals, but goodness, what a puzzle. And after doing that for two years, the students’ parents started complaining that there were too many substitutes for me. Then the mighty troika of Gunnar Grimstad, Bentein Baardson, and Nora Ibsen came together and asked if I wanted a permanent job at Agder Theater. I replied that I had to discuss it with my husband first.
Anne Ma Usterud as Magdelone in Ludvig Holberg’s *Den Stundesløse*.Memories
The newly hired actress soon found herself with many roles and many responsibilities. But she also felt lonely at times, being the only permanent employee.
– The people I performed with were freelancers who could spend the rest of the day doing whatever they wanted after rehearsals and performances. I had a husband, children, and grandchildren, and I suppose I wasn’t able to form that kind of bond with my colleagues.
– Did you need a clear separation between work and home life?
– Yes, Jan Erik had a life of his own, too. I couldn’t just pit mine against his.
– Have you ever regretted your career choice?
– No, I was pretty worn out from music school and had burned out there. Always alone with large groups of kids in a gym, playing the recorder…
– You say you can’t separate all your roles after the fact. But are there moments and moods from the stage that still come back to you?
– Mmmm. She pauses while eating her salad. She thinks, quietly, for a moment…. – Yes, I had a wonderful collaboration, a dialogue with Arnhild Litlere. We did “Mugg” (2003, directed by Bodil Kvamme), about two women on a trip to Moscow. It was a fantastic experience to do together. It was a wonderful journey, a truly wonderful journey…
– You’ve had to switch between many different styles? From the heartfelt and somber to the burlesque?
– Yeah. Like the Tooth Fairy in *Karius and Baktus*. It was really fun, because I had to make it myself. There’s no Tooth Fairy in that story, so I became the Tooth Fairy in that foam rubber costume. I looked like a light blue camper. And on May 17th, I was supposed to be the Tooth Fairy first, then after just an hour’s break, put on my traditional costume and read fairy tales with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra in konsertsalen. That time, I forgot to put on the microphone. That was pretty intense. But that’s how it goes sometimes, until you get sick of it.
– But you’re doing well, aren’t you? You do swim, don’t you?
– Yeah, I try to do it twice a week—swimming and working out my arms and legs in the water. I have to. I’ve hit rock bottom a couple of times, really hit rock bottom. And if I’m going to keep going, I have to get well again. You can’t do this halfway. When you commit, it’s all in.
Advice for the theater
– You’ve said that you dreamed of playing the lead role in “Annie Get Your Gun,” but never got the chance. Are there any productions you’ve been in where you would have preferred roles other than the ones you were given?
– I would have loved to play the abbess in *The Sound and the Music*. But the casting was already done by the time I got involved and asked if it was possible. But that’s just how it goes.
– Because you’d like to sing more?
– Yes, now there’s hope that Jan Erik and I might sing a few songs together again. In September, we’re going to give a concert for SeniorKilden.
– Agder Teater is turning 25. You’ve been part of it for 18 of those years. What are your hopes for the theater’s future?
– It has to become an ensemble, or it will fade away. It mustn’t be a project theater that picks actors here and there. They need to establish an identity for this theater. Because right now, people in Kristiansand aren’t theatergoers. They’re into concerts, musicals, festivals… But when it comes to theater—you can tell by how they react. They’re very quiet in the auditorium. Sometimes we get, like, no response at all. But it’s a two-way street; it’s completely open between us—there’s no wall there. If they respond, they also get more out of the performance, because then we know—oh! They’re with us! It’s a two-way communication with theater, explains Anne Ma Usterud—as she scrapes the last green bits out of her lunch bowl.
The intermission is over, and she’s ready to take the stage—just like so many times before.
Text: Reidar Mosland