Lyssnaren (The Listener) - Skuggteatern

The jury’s motivation

With great openness and sincerity, it tells the story of a silent child's observations of the world around it. In the audience's headphones, the everyday tones and sounds that we easily take for granted take on new dimensions and meanings in this careful and sensitive production. It is great theatre art in a small format, which in its own unique way highlights the indispensability of listening and being listened to.

The Listener is an auditory performing arts piece where the audience follows Hugo, who has stopped talking at preschool, but the silence has given him a room and a world much bigger than the world of words. He sits behind a curtain and hears the sounds hidden within other sounds. He watches the other children playing like shadows outside the curtain and travels away from there through the sound of an audience roaring and into space. He's not left out; he's just not playing with the other children. But then one day, his talkative preschool friend Stella realizes that they can play together using a tape recorder.

The Listener creates a close intimacy with the audience by presenting a small auditory space for each audience member through headphones. In the performance, the audience sits in a tent made of curtains, completely immersed in Hugo's world. Inside, they see projections and shadow plays that visually enhance the sounds created by the actors in front of them and whispered into microphones.

Credits

Concept: Skuggteatern

Script & direction: Emil Nilsson-Mäki

Actors: Magnus Nilsson-Mäki & Karin Malmberg

Costume, scenography & props: Frida Allberg

Lighting design: Jonas Olsson

Sound design: Jessica Lindgren Klingsell:Ljudinstitutet

Silhouettes: Henrik Wiklund

Producer: Elenor Nordström

Performance photos: Elin Berge

From 4 to 6 years