“I wouldn’t have believed this three years ago. It’s really cool that it’s happening here, in the city where I grew up,” says Mahamoud, who joined Kilden 2020 straight out of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

*Erasmus Montanus* is a seminal classic of Nordic theater and Ludvig Holberg’s best-known and most beloved folk comedy. After the premieres in Mandal on May 5 and in Lyngdal on May 6 were canceled due to the coronavirus, the premiere will now take place at the Flekkefjord Cultural Center on May 7.

“I play ‘the chosen son,’ who returns to his hometown after studying philosophy in Copenhagen. The play depicts the clash between city and countryside, the educated and the uneducated, students and farmers, and Erasmus Montanus finds his views censored by the entire village,” says Mahamoud.

He clearly feels sympathy for the character, but also describes a personality that is very different from his own:

In a podcast from Kilden , Mahamoud discusses various aspects of the play with dramaturg Endre Sannes Hadland. The podcast was recorded just under a week before the premiere, and Mahamoud reflects on the process and the work involved with the language in the play:

– It feels better and better, and you gain a sense of confidence once you’ve thoroughly worked through the material. The language has been one of the bigger challenges, and it took a little time to really get into it for someone who’s already a bit linguistically confused, with Somali, Arabic, Norwegian, and English. But I’ve gotten a lot of help, and I’ve even had my own Latin teacher at the same time I’ve had to perfect my Danish-Norwegian.