OLSO, NORWAY— Deaf West Theatre and the Award winning Norwegian ASL theatre group, Teater Mantu concluded their tour of the 3 story comedy, “Sjalusi.”
According to Broadwayworld.com, The Teater Manu “first staged ‘Sjalusi’ in 2009 for Clin d’Oeil, Europe’s largest cultural festival for deaf people held inReims, France, and for Culture Days for Deaf People in Oslo. In order to make the production accessible to an American audience, Deaf West sent a team of ASL Masters to Norway to translate the play into an International Sign Language/American Sign Language hybrid.”
“Sjalusi,” which translates from Norwegian to mean “Jealousy,” was written by Esther Vilar and directed by Magne Brevik. Esther Vilar is an Argentian-German writer. A press release from the Teater Manu explained that the show is “about three women (Mira Zuckermann, Ipek D. Mehlum and Anne-Line Kirste) who fall in love with the same man…Forbidden feelings emerge and [become] impossible to keep hidden. Everything is voiced by actor Kjersti Fjeldstad, so even non-sign language will enjoy the play.”
According to their website, the Teater Manu advertises themselves as “the only professional theatre that have sign language as a stage language.” Despite their use of sign language, the Teater Manu “Characters language is our language for the stage and this adds an extra dimension to our performances. It is always played by voice actors,” so those who don’t know sign language will be able to understand the performance.
The Tour began on Thursday, March 14 in Kristiansand, Norway. After performing in a few theatres in Norway, and in Spain; the production made its way to America for its two-week US premiere beginning on April 24 and ending on May 4 at the Ford Theatre on 2580 Cahuenga Boulevard East inHollywood, CA.
The show was $30 for general admission and $25 for students. The tour came to a close in Olso, Norway at the Teater Manu on May 24.
