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HESTNES / POPOVIĆ

Reviews



SO FAR SO GOOD



The scenography, this time, is a work of art in itself
        Amund Grimstad, Klassekampen, 23.11.2022

By ingenious use of microphones and loudspeakers, they are able to generate, not just sound, but actual music.
Thus, the performance gradually transitiones from documentary to becoming an eventful and highly sensory audiovisual installation where scenography and sound merges together in intricate ways
        Amund Grimstad, Klassekampen, 23.11.2022

As usual, Hestnes/Popović invite the audience into the performance in an inclusive way: The existential, moral and political is found in us being together, in the performance space and in society    Willy Walder, Norsk Shakespearetidsskrift, 26.11.2022

The dramatic highlights are evoked (...) by the sounddesign of Daniel Fogh. A sound system is mounted on the back of the steel plates, so that the vibrations in the steel are amplified through microphones and speakers. This results in shrill and seemingly distorted sounds, but also more subdued sounds. It is quite magnificent when the plates, for example, are lifted up from underneath so that they go from a vertical position to floating horizontally under the ceiling
     Eline Bjerkan, Scenekunst.no 26.11.2021


A MOMENT OF SILENCE 


It is almost as if the performers and the audience already know eachother
         Eline Bjerkan ved scenekunst.no, 27.11.2019

A Moment of Silence’ is a remarkably charming performance where Hestnes / Popovic with simple, but surprising means tell us something essential about being human.
(...)
Just like many small streams make up the river of history , the performance is built on layers of anecdotes, trustworthy trivialities, everyday happenings, often with a dramatic backdrop. In this way they succeed in a serene, notably gradual, astonishingly seamless and incredibly elegant way, to build all the small bricks that together make up the big story, our common story.
(...)
A school in good dramaturgy 
        Amund Grimstad, Klassekampen, november 2019


The jumping between storytelling and the interactive, physical coffee-layer renders A Moment of Silence dynamic and unpredictable. With their good stage presence and their personal gaze on historical events, Hestnes/Popovic leads the audience steadily through the performance. (...)  it is obvious that Hestnes/Popovic is working on a fruitfull project across single performances and it will be interesting to follow the duo in the future.
         Eline Bjerkan ved scenekunst.no, 27.11.2019



THERE IS A NOISE


In There is a Noise, from Danish and Norwegian theatremakers Freya Sif Hestnes and Marina Popovic, a casual conversation between friends became a potent exploration of memory and identity.
            Flossie Waite and Luke Billingham, Take Off Festival 2019 (UK)


Without sentimentality, There is a Noise works silently into a kind of major history writing, expressed through these young women’s bodies, memories and representations of their families. (...)in its modest appeal, the two women establish relationships between now and then, between the different stories that define Europe.
             Theresa Benér. Det Frie Felts Festival 2018 (SE/DK) 


The audience sits together with the actors around a table full of little war figures, while the performers are frying waffles. The smell, in this context, create an ambiguous feeling and open up for sprawling associations. Here, the different senses can create intuitive associations that can engage and involve in a physical, sensorial way. So that the audience can relate to the material from their own experiences.
            Henriette Stensen, Periskop. SAND Festival 2017 (NO)


The performance had a personal and down-to-earth quality which was suitable, the serious theme taken into account. (...) The strength of the performance lies in its ability to present historical events through various personal interpretations and experiences, and to be able to create multiple layers of meaning and space for reflection
          Eline Bjerkan, Scenekunst.no, Bastard Festival 2019 (NO)


Convinces the senses
            Venke Marie Sortland, Periskop.no Showbox Festival 2016 (NO)


They present the most terrible in a setting full of contrast; with frying and serving of waffles and a low key and everyday conversation about what they remember. (...) While waffles were being fryed and the war was talked about calmly and naturally, we were sitting around a table with wartoys, like in an enormous battlefield. (...) Effective and illustrating contrasts and a performance that at the same time was mercilessly honest.
          Amund Grimstad, Bastard Festival, Rosendal Teater 2019 (NO)


There is a lot of theatre about refugees and the migration of people across the world. This is in my opinion one of the most powerful and affecting I’ve seen, the staging and the setting so intimate and ultimately powerful. A true story with waffles. 
        Tony Rieeke, curator Take Off Festival 2019 (UK)
           Tony Reekie, Programmer (TakeOff Festival)