I Am The Wind
By Jon Fosse
Translated by Simon Stephens
Themes: Identity, Existentialism, Solitude & Company
Genre: Absurdism
Key scenes: pp.8-9; pp. 26-29; pp. 45-48
Number of characters: 2 (2M)
Age recommendation: 12+ (suicide)
Country: Norway
Original language: Norwegian
Description:
The play is set in an unnamed location and at an unspecified time. Two men, The One and The Other, are on a fragile boat on a trip to sea. They have a few drinks, a bite to eat before one of them decides to push on to the open ocean. Suddenly there they are: among the distant islands, the threatening fog and gathering swell of the sea, bound together on an odyssey into the unknown.
I Am The Wind sees two characters, presented to us with no names and no background, try to make sense of existence, and the choice between life and death, through the insufficient medium of language.
The play was originally written in the Norwegian in 2007 and was translated into the English language in 2011 to be performed at the Festival D’Avignon.
The play is in one scene.
+ DETAILS
Author: Jon Fosse
Translator: Simon Stephens
Original language: Norwegian
Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2011
World Premiere (in the Engl. lang.): Festival D’Avignon, France 2011
Education Pack Resource Writer: Alia Alzougbi
+ CHARACTERS
THE ONE, a practised sailor and palpable depressive
THE OTHER, a nautical novice and pragmatic protector
Ages are not provided.
+ PLAY TEXT BLURB
Two men on a fragile boat, a trip to sea – a few drinks, a bite to eat – when one of them decides to push on to the open ocean. Suddenly there they are: among the distant islands, the threatening fog and gathering swell of the sea, bound together on an odyssey into the unknown.
Jon Fosse’s work includes novels, poetry, essays and books for children. He is one of the most produced playwrights in Europe and his plays have been translated into forty languages. Oberon Books publishes Nightsongs and The Girl on the Sofa, and his other plays in the following collections: Plays One, Plays Two, Plays Three, Plays Four and Plays Five. Plays Six is forthcoming in 2012.
Oberon Books also publishes The Luminous Darkness: The Theatre of Jon Fosse by Leif Zern (translated by Ann Henning-Jocelyn).
Buy the play text here
