Born in 1960, Jo Nesbø's latest work, 90-Meters Bakken, an allegorical piece about the tribulations of moving to and growing up in the small town of Molde, Norway, has sold out in its initial theatre run, and is about to tour the country with a substantial live sound and lighting production.
Norway enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living - and consequently one of the world's highest concentrations of professional entertainment technology. This has helped provide Nesbø with an enviable touring production for his new work, with a Renkus-Heinz PN102LA self-powered line array PA, Martin Audio monitors, TC Electronics, Lexicon and Ashly processing, XTA control and an Allen & Heath console for his sound, as well as a lighting rig headed by a GrandMA console, Avab dimmers and Selecon, Thomas, Martin Professional and Vari*Lite luminaires.
Nesbø's CV suggests there are few talents he does not already master. After successful seasons as centre forward for one of Norway's premier soccer teams, he studied economics in Bergen while forming a garage band named 'Di Derre' - a slang expression best translated as 'Them There' - as a songwriting vehicle. His sharp yet whimsical lyrics and quaint musical style captivated Norwegian audiences and Di Derre quickly became one of Norway's biggest selling bands.
Building on his pop celebrity, Nesbø then published his first crime novel, the highly successful Flaggermusmannen (Batman), and has since penned seven novels, selling more than half a million copies in Norway alone.
The stage beckoned next and, around a year ago, he penned a tribute to his home town - a quasi-biographical coming-of-age tale - based around the ambitions, dreams and love of the members of fictional garage band Johnny Moonface & The Atlantic Ocean, featuring the songs of Di Derre. The result is a charming stage musical entitled 90-Meters Bakken, the title being a Norwegian double-entendre pun on ski-jumping into complete darkness and a slang term for the 1990s.
After writing the rough draft, Nesbø handed the reins to veteran director Kjetil Bang-Hansen and musical director Ingrid Bjørnov, who crafted an engaging piece of musical theatre which after 12 sold-out performances in the Bjørnsonhuset (a 1,000-seat capacity theatre venue in Nesbø's home town of Molde) will go on to tour Norway.
For Teatret Vårt, a small theatre company established in 1972, taking on a production of this magnitude was a significant challenge - echoing the pun of the work's title, it was a leap in the dark. Says production manager Halvard Fiksdal: "Jo Nesbø is a popular artist and writer, and the fact that the performances started selling out months before we even got into pre-production was both a blessing and a curse. We knew we had the funds to put on the production, but we also knew we damned well had to get it right." As this was the largest production in the company's history, Fiksdal was pleased they had enough funds to book the facility for a whole week of rehearsals. "This is really unheard of. Usually budgets are so tight, we have a day or two for rehearsals in the actual venue. Having a week seems almost excessive, but we needed it."
Based on a set designed by one of Norway's foremost set designers, John-Kristian Alsaker, Fiksdal pulled together a production crew of theatre staff and external experts. The audio aspect of the production was handed to local production company Molde Forum AS, the rental specialist whose credits include the renowned Molde International Jazz Festival, headlined this year by Stevie Wonder.
From an audio perspective, the Bjørnsonhuset is a challenging venue, long and narrow in shape and with steeply raked amph
