Photo: Kjersti Alm Eriksen

Arendal Kulturhus is excited to welcome the innovative theater company YMIST, which will come directly from a premiere at the National Theatre to Arendal.

The world as we know it is teetering on the edge. Anxiety and fear creep in. But does this truly affect us? Does it push us to take action? What do we do when we come face to face with the end? Gustav von Aschenbach, the protagonist of Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice, does what many of us would do: he books a vacation to the South.

"Solitude brings forth the original, the daring, and the strangely beautiful—the poem. But solitude also brings forth the opposite, the unreasonable, the absurd, and the unlawful."
— From Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

Through a fusion of text, brutal choreographic material, and a seductive musical expression, this performance seeks to explore a character who refuses to acknowledge the approach of death. Instead, he escapes into self-deception and desire. Death in Venice is the first of three productions by YMIST portraying people in extreme situations—individuals who, for various reasons, are on the verge of collapse.

Death in Venice features three performers: an actor, a dancer, and a performing composer. Premiere: March 2025.

The creative team:

• Oda Radoor – Adaptation and dramaturgy

• Erlend Samnøen – Direction and choreography

• Morten Espeland – Performer

• Erik Rulin – Performer

• Nils Jakob Langvik – Performing composer

• Ingeborg Staxrud Olerud – Lighting design

• Kjersti Alm Eriksen – Set design

• Ane Ledang Aasheim – Costume design

The performance is supported by the Norwegian Cultural Fund, the Audio and Visual Fund, the Performing Artists Fund, the Bergesen Foundation, and Fritt Ord.

Co-production: Tou, Black Box Theatre, Rosendal Theatre, Cornerstones.
Performance rights: S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany ©

Link for more information here.