History
Twenty-three years ago, in 1981, the Beliashe theatre took its first artistic steps in the far north, in the “vidda” of Lapland where the actors were engaged by the first Sami theatre company in Norway’s history. The name Beliashe is a derivative of “Bjeljasât” (the Small Ears), the name of a pair of mountains, close to the town of Kautokeino. Once a centre of early rituals, these mountains can be clearly seen from far away in the rolling, tundra-like landscape.This was the starting point on a nomadic journey between countries, between experimental forms of expression, a journey of diversity of sources and contents and the everlasting quest for the subtle and ineluctable disciplines of theatre.
Today, the journey continues, examining the role of the actor/performer as creator; presenting the performance in unorthodox and unexpected contexts; searching for the elusive connections between the form and the content, between the performer and the spectator, between tradition and innovation, between the disciplines and the liberties of theatrical expression.
A study of the actor’s gestural expression and the training of the body is central to our research; Improvisation as a creative action, the “devising” of theatre plays and performances, the passage from image to act, and the symbiosis of the theatre and visual arts, – all play a role in our ongoing work.