The interest for theatre was aroused as a young girl and in my adult life, amateur theatre has been so close to my heart that I ended up with having theatre as my profession as drama teacher. For many years I was the leader of children's theatre and along with that, I went to many courses and workshops, learning the skills of directing, costume-making and scenography. It ended in Denmark joining an education for profesional actors becoming directors.

Here are pictures from a big outdoor play I directed in 1999. It is a play that has been played every second year since 1985 until 2017. I joined in 1987 making the costumes and was a part of the "crew" for many years. When I was given the responsibility to direct, I also took apon me to design a new scenography and house for the orchestra. I had experienced that the choir, which also are the extras in the play, needed shelter when not being on the stage. As this is in Steigen, Northern Norway, it may be cold and rainy, even in summer.

The play is based upon a legend (like Romeo and Juliet) and upon ideas from greek theatre. Time is age of vikings. There is a choir that is commenting what is happening and there are rather few actors. As extras I also had children and teenagers playing servants helping the king with the sacrificial seremony.  It is going on at the assembly, called "thing" at that time.
It is called "Hagbard og Signe", (Steigen Sagaspill) and it is played at a place where it is very likely that viking kings actually had their assemblies! The audience sit in a natural hillside, as you can see.

To see this play is also a nature experience as the audience are sitting high above the natural stage and the background is mountains, the fjord and the islands.

My directing enhanced the psychological battle inside of the king who had promised his daughter to a Russian prince instead of letting her marry the local viking hero, that she had promised to be true to before he left for viking journeys. He ends up hanging her boyfriend and she kills herself by putting her sleeping room into fire. In my version, I let the two meet in heaven (the way it is described in norse religion," Helheimen ". Upper picture to the left.