The reviews are all out already and it seems the show is a success, at least critically. Warm and fulsome praise throughout apparently, though to be honest I donÂ’t know. Somewhat selfishly the Norwegian papers have chosen to write their reviews in Norwegian. But the two papers that give ratings (based on the sides of a dice and thus a score out of 6) gave it 4 and 5. Apparently a 6 is given out only once every three years, so the 5 is a triumph and the 4 extremely respectable. One paper says that the show should be put on in every school and playhouse in Norway. LetÂ’s hope the Norwegian people take heed of their excellent and intelligent journalists.
Unfortunately ticket sales are still low, but everyone is hopeful that this will pick up. Nils has been on many TV and radio shows and Jan says that the show has prompted quite a debate in the Norwegian media about the penis and menÂ’s attitude to this.
Something I have written has got the people of Norway talking about penises.
If you had told me this 18 months ago, I would have not believed you. That’s quite an achievement. I hope it’s in my obituary – if nothing else, he did cause the people of Norway to debate male genitalia.
Jan has lots of plans for the show, whether it’s a hit in Oslo or not. Up until now I’ve been treating the whole thing as a bit of a joke – isn’t it funny and ridiculous, something I’ve written being performed in Norway? – but now I’m here and seeing that it really is happening, that it isn’t a stunt dreamt up by the brilliant comic brain of Dom Joly and that all these people have been working long and hard to make it a success, I have realised just how amazing this whole thing is.
Something IÂ’ve written is being performed in Norway, then in Finland and Belgium and Germany and Iceland and several other countries. ItÂ’s pretty fucking impressive when you stop and think about it. Insane, still pretty funny, but incredible.
My mainly boring life is occasionally filled with wonder.
I hope thatÂ’s true of us all.
And I do hope we all have mainly boring lives. Because how would we appreciate it when our lives got good, without having been stricken with ennui for 90 per cent of the time.
And if your life doesnÂ’t have ten per cent of wonder, then come to Oslo, go up on the hillside, eat some Norwegian meatballs, while looking out over the fjords and the city and the strange and rare old wooden houses with roofs made of grass and your wonderment will be topped up in an evening. It will also help if you have written a show about genitalia for a Norwegian man to perform. But itÂ’s not essential.
