Edinburgh 2002

Fringe

Norway.Today
C cubed

Lydia Esler

Based on a true story of two youngsters who arrange a suicide pact in a chatroom on the internet, Norway.Today takes August and Julie to the Prekestolen cliff, where they contemplate and carry out their suicides.

The stimulus for the play was an article detailing the process the two youngsters went through to achieve their ends. The article was merely a starting point; not all details are known and the play attempts to fill in the gaps.

Whether the performance by Skien Productions achieves this is questionable. The gaps the play tries to fill would surely be the personal details of the youngsters, their emotions, their thoughts before death and an understanding of what drove them to end their lives. Instead the approach of this production seems cold and impersonal.

With a multimedia set-up, they use video projections and music mixed by a live DJ on stage to underscore the action. The music effectively creates atmosphere and gives the play a flavour of youth culture, but its 'chill out' beat can have the effect of dulling moments of tension.

Much focus is given to the element of cyber communication, to the extent of depersonalising a true story, which bears emotional weight for the individuals involved. The actors are self-aware and all action feels very deliberate, as though pre-meditated. In the opening scene this works well because it is set in a computer chat room. The monotone of the voices simulates the repetitive typing at a computer and suits the sterility of the white space. However when the youngsters meet, the impersonal atmosphere does not disintegrate.

Even when the youngsters are at the edge of the cliff contemplating death they do not reach an emotional precipice, as one would expect. The play questions authenticity of emotions and appearances, and the mechanics of everyday life and society. The detached tone and monotony emphasises this but as a piece of drama does not suffice to invite the audience on a journey through the story of the play, nor does it join us with the characters.

Until August 25: 22.15 (1hr 10mins).