Grief, hope, death, and a bare heart
[ultimate_spacer height=»60″ height_on_tabs=»40″ height_on_mob=»40″]
The doll Clara stands with her bare heart in her hand, mourning. Laura Christina Brøvig Vallenes helps her hold on to hope. This is both beautiful and sad; a puppet show with a theme that director and actress Vallenes believes most young people struggle with.
“POTATOES DON’T HAVE WINGS” is the story of an ordinary-looking potato that prompts two grieving parents to break out of their self-imposed isolation.
“It’s a play that’s perfect for talking to young people about death, life, and hope. This is a topic that all children can relate to in one way or another,” explains Laura Christina Brøvig Vallenes ahead of this fall’s tour for Den Kulturelle Skolesekken in Vest-Agder, where the audience consists of schoolchildren ages six and up.
Major topic
The play tells the story of a grieving couple who lost their daughter several years earlier. A little potato girl on the run from the Potato Factory comes to their house. She becomes their new hope and the object of the love they still need to give.
– Death and the loss of a loved one are deeply affecting for everyone. But it’s an especially significant issue for children. Here we meet a man and a woman living in a sad relationship because they’ve lost the person they loved most. The mother holds her heart in her hand. She has a huge hole where her heart should be. The father has messy, tousled hair and doesn’t know how to make their lives normal again. So we first get to know two fragile people. And then there’s a potato that looks like a potato, but is incredibly cute,” explains Vallenes, who finds telling this story to children and young people both a joy and a challenge.
– A major challenge in the performing arts is the way children think and their imagination. It’s a kind of dream world, so I love it when I manage to tap into that. And that’s my greatest ambition with this production.
“IT’S A PLAY THAT’S PERFECT FOR TALKING TO YOUNG PEOPLE ABOUT DEATH, LIFE, AND HOPE” Laura Christina Brøvig Vallenes, director
Wants to catch the children
– But children can also be a very critical audience. How well does this show handle their outbursts and comments?
– This show has to have that. You have to break away from conventional logic. That’s why I like to think in terms of “the logic of dreams”—because then you get them on board with the fun. That’s been my experience. But this show is for children aged six to twelve or thirteen—so that’s a big leap. That’s why we want to set the mood with music and movement the moment they walk into the room, so they have something to focus on. We’re trying to capture their attention right away, smiles the actor and performing artist who, together with Johannes Blåsternes, will bring the characters to life and infuse them with magic. And convey the play’s underlying message:
– Your grief is with you, but you still have to move on.
"Potatoes Don't Have Wings" has previously been staged in both Haugesund and Tromsø, where the play has resonated with audiences of all ages.
TEXT BY REIDAR MOSLAND
PHOTO BY TERJE SOLLIE