Anette Therese Pettersen presented the Critics' Award in Oslo and wrote a wonderful piece that can be read in its entirety here

Petter Width Kristiansen has been awarded the 2024–2025 Critics’ Award for Theater for his direction, script, and performance in the production *Kill Devil*, which premiered at Kilden October 2024. 

“We are incredibly pleased that Petter Width Kristiansen’s artistic work is being highlighted in this way. It is well deserved,” says theater director Valborg Frøysnes. 

The Critics' Award is presented annually in various categories, with the Theater Critics' Award being the oldest, having been awarded since 1939. The critics themselves vote to select the three nominees and the winner. The award has previously gone to well-known theater companies and actors such as Nils Ole Oftebro, Henrik Rafaelsen, and the theater company Susie Wang. 

According to Frøysnes, *Kill Devil* was a unique production with a particularly important story to tell, one that challenged not only the audience and critics, but also Kilden’s workshops and sound and lighting departments.  

– The show would never have turned out the way it did if it hadn’t been for the incredible work that Kilden’s own staff put into the production. Everyone was determined to make it happen—from the producer to the stage manager, the workshop staff, the stage manager, and indeed the entire team—who all pulled together to bring to life what Petter and his artistic team had envisioned.

What began as an idea for a shadow theater performance as a means of telling the story of a relatively unknown and extremely brutal chapter in Danish-Norwegian history—namely, the country’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade—evolved into a large-scale scenographic structure inspired by Norwegian National Romantic architecture and built by the workshop at Kilden. And with hundreds of shadow figures of people, ships, and landscapes hand-drawn by illustrator Håvard Steensen and cut out in Kilden’s workshop, a tremendous amount of work lies behind the performance, according to Frøysnes. 

In its award citation, the Norwegian Critics’ Association describes *Kill Devil* as a production that combines magnificent visual design with a thoughtful and critical perspective on Norway’s involvement in the slave trade and nation-building. The citation specifically highlights Petter Width’s contribution as a driving force both behind the scenes and on stage.  

During the awards ceremony, theater critic Anette Therese Pettersen gave a speech to the winners in the theater category, saying, among other things:  

“This is a bold artistic program from Kilden , but also a bold and mature production and execution by Petter Width Kristiansen.”
– The fact that the award goes to a production from Kilden underscores that performing arts from the regions carry national weight and relevance, Frøysnes concludes.