About the performance
Maja Lunda's Christmas story takes us to a Scandinavian snowy landscape that could be like a film by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman called Fanny and Alexander, but it is nothing like it might normally be at this festive time. For the boy Julian, December is the most wonderful time of the year. Not only does he love Christmas, warm gingerbread, hot cocoa and colourful decorations, he also celebrates his birthday on Christmas Day. Every year, Julian and his family celebrate a real Christmas. They decorated their home, baked Christmas treats, listened to Christmas music, made snowmen until their hands were completely icy. This year, Julian's Christmas is a little different. His parents didn't decorate anything and Julian is mostly on his own. He is not in the mood for snowy adventures with his friend Jon, and even cocoa doesn't smell as good to him as in previous years. This is all because of his older sister, Juni, who recently passed away, taking with her all the joys of the festive season. But Julian is in for an unexpected surprise in the form of the mysterious girl Hedvig, who shows Julian once again what a real, sweet, fluffy, red and festive December looks like.
Maja Lunde wrote the story " The Snow Sister" to draw attention to the pressing problem of mental distress and psychological disorders in adolescents and to highlight the need for communication between parents and children. She weaves into the fairytale world of the family story the importance of brotherly love, family reunification and the obstacles that stand in the way of overcoming grief, the role of peers and friendship, and the coming of age of a child who has already faced death in the family in his pre-teen years. Her collaboration with illustrator Lisa Aisato has given birth to a beautiful book which, in its illustrative and fairytale-like illustrations, reminds the reader how important it is sometimes to be human and to look empathetically at one's fellow human beings, to become a good listener and to lend a hand, even when the other person does not ask for it.
In director Luka Marcen's performance, the magic of the text is intertwined with the magic of the stage, offering an insight into the courage and resilience of the young protagonist, whose strong will and desire will reawaken the greyness of winter time and transform it into the festive colourfulness of the winter atmosphere.
Nika Korenjak
About the author
Maja Lunde (1975) is the most successful Norwegian author of her generation and one of Norway's most prominent advocates for the climate issue. Her books are published in more than 40 languages and has sold in more than 2.5 million copies. Lunde's debut novel Histroy of Bees (2015) was an immediate success and was sold to various countries even before Norwegian publication. The book won "The Norwegian Bookhandler Prize" and several international prizes, and was the best-selling book in Germany in 2017. As part of the author's climactic quartet, they have independent sequels Blue (2017), Przewalski's horse (2019) and most recently Drømmen om et tre (2022) have been published in equal recognition.
Lunde has also written several books for children and young people. Children's Christmas book The Snow Sister (2018) illustrated by Lisa Aisato, was a record success in Norway and has been translated into a total of 27 languages.
She herself dramatized the Snøsøstera, which premiered at Det Norske Teatret on 22 October to jubilant critics. Several of Lunde's other works have been filmed, adapted for the stage or in the process of being made into a film.
About the director
Luka Marcen (1995). After graduating from the first gymnasium in Celje, he first enrolled at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana to study Philosophy and Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. He continued his education by studying theatre directing at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, where in September 2020, under the mentorship of Prof. Matjaž Zupančič, he graduated by directing the productions The Cannibals by Gregorž Strniša and The Naked Pianist or A Little Night Music by Matjaž Zupančič. As an assistant director, he has worked with renowned theatre artists such as Dušan Mlakar, Janez Pipan, Ivica Buljan, Eduard Miler, Aleksander Popovski and others. In the past seasons, he has directed and conceptualised several readings of new Slovenian plays by authors of different generations, on various platforms and festivals. He also regularly collaborates with the editorial team of the Radio Slovenia drama programme in the production of literary programmes and radio plays.
His production Children on Power (based on the works of Roger Vitrac and Dušan Jovanovič, 2019) was selected for the competition programme at several festivals across Europe, and at the FIST Festival in Belgrade in May 2019, the play was awarded the Grand Prix for the best overall performance of the festival. In December 2019, the creators of Children in Power were also awarded the 2019 Academic Prešeren Prize. In December 2020, Luka Marcen was awarded the 2020 Academic Prešeren Prize for his direction of the graduation production The Cannibals by Gregor Strniša.
In March 2022, the production Kozlovska sodba v Višnji Gori became the Audience's Choice Noble Comedy at the 30th Days of Comedy Festival, and the festival's jury of experts gave the production a special mention.
