A scene from the second edit of Mushrooms! ? ACT I Scene 1 A small hut in the forest. The interior is simple: a table, four chairs and heavy red velvet curtains covering up the only window. There are bottles scattered around the place - some of them full, others half-full. Two candles lighten up the table, and the rest of the room is plunged in a strange darkness. The Bird Brothers sit facing each other, playing with a deck and poker chips, having a good time. Icarus looks occasionally to one of the corners of the room, to see if the silver box is still there. SIR: Let’s play a game. ICARUS: Will there be thinking involved? SIR: Maths, yes. ICARUS: Kra! Kra! SIR: Don’t worry brother, there’s plenty of time to learn! ICARUS: What are we playing? SIR: Black Jack. ICARUS: Teach me. SIR: Now, the rules are simple: I give you two cards, and you sum them up. If you have low cards, pick a new one. Say "stick", if you believe that you are close enough to 21 or if you have 21. They start playing the game. Eventually they have to show their cards...

This is the newest monologue I've been working on. Don't know if it's completely done yet, but I see it as a work in progress.

? Due to the fact that this play will be staged very soon, and no one has been allowed access to it except from the actors - this is only an extract: LUCY: You said that you could help me. THE TEACHER: Ah, yes, but that wasn’t all. The process will take time. Do you think you’re ready? LUCY: I want to leave. THE TEACHER (TO SIR): Open the box and give it to her. Lucy suddenly revives. THE TEACHER: Take one. LUCY: Really? THE TEACHER: Sure. You deserve it. She removes a mushroom from the box and holds it before her eyes. She starts humming with satisfaction. THE TEACHER: See? We’re your friends. Lucy rises from her chair, the others take a step back while the teacher sits motionless. LUCY (SINGING): "I worship the sun with utter zest From deep within my fountain-soul, The white wheel spinning in my chest Prevades me with its aureole." The Bird Brothers cheer and scream sup! sup! THE TEACHER: Wonderful. Isn’t she? LADY ENIGELLE: She makes me happy. ICARUS: Give her the entire box! THE TEACHER: Not so fast. Lucy, look me in the eyes. LUCY: This is beautiful. THE TEACHER: Will...

I wrote this monologue simultanously to when I was directing Fall of a Queen Bee. I did a reading of it at the Lakeside Theatre.

This is the play I wrote and directed at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, september 2012.

This piece is an experimental project to see how two monologues from two very different characters would work juxtaposed. While editing the texts separately, I found that they had something intriguing in common: the immense social insecurity. Working as a director but also a playwright, I would like to be able to explore why these characters are trying to fit in to a social environment, and why they struggle. They are both on a journey of discovering the essence of their struggle, but do they get there in the end? The social codes and norms are stronger than we think, so when these characters go to certain extremes to exemplify this - they are also questioning how far we will strive to become "normal". What is normal anyway?  I will leave this to the audience.