Close to Marianne Lauritsen
At the Hamsun Center we meet Marianne. A creative 28-year-old woman from Trøndelag who chose life in the north. During this year's The Hamsun Days Marianne is on stage with her first solo performance "Ragnhild the Great".
Photo: Synne Haakenstuen
We had a little chat with Marianne about the performance, life in Nordland and the job at the Hamsun Center.
You originally come from the big city of Trondheim – how did you end up on small Hamarøy?
– In fact, I spent my first years of life on Andøya in Vesterålen, before we moved to Trondheim. My parents worked in the Armed Forces, so when I learned to speak, I spoke Northern Norwegian, says Marianne.
–When I was 20 years old, I moved to Lofoten to attend the film school in Kabelvåg, and then had my first years of study and dormitory in the north. In 2021, I spent a year at the Writing Arts Academy in Bergen. After that, I didn't really know what to do with my life. The only point of reference was that I was going north towards Lofoten again. Coincidences would have it that I ended up at a party at Ness on Hamarøy and there I met the man who I am now dating and living with. So now I live here, and have basically spent most of my adult life on one side or the other of the Vestfjord, she continues.
Marianne has worked both as a summer host and at Kafè Sult, before becoming part of the administration in the fall of 2022 and participating in the work on the major initiative "The controversial Hamsun". She also works at Hamarøy Cultural School.
“ – I don’t think there is a typical day at the Hamsun Center, at least not for me. But the best days are when I get to have good meetings with guests, and maybe do something creative like take pictures or write a presentation script, read, or do reading aloud and presentation. I enjoy myself best when things are happening and generally there is an incredible amount happening at the Hamsun Center .”
Can you describe a typical day at work for you?
– I don't think there is a typical day at the Hamsun Center, at least not for me. But the best days are when I get to have good meetings with guests, and maybe do something creative like take pictures or write a presentation script, read, or engage in reading aloud and presentation. I enjoy myself best when things are happening and generally there is an incredible amount happening at the Hamsun Center, says Marianne.
The local talent has been involved in film, theater and writing for many years and is working to be able to continue storytelling, in one form or another, full-time. "Ragnhild the Great" is Marianne's solo performance debut. The performance is about Ragnhild who feels invincible, indomitable, unstoppable! Sometimes. Other times she lies face down and looks down into the abyss. But then she gets back up and her dreams can come true again. At least in her imagination, or in theory, in the long run? During the performance, the audience gets a close encounter with Ragnhild and her creative ups and downs, and perhaps a feeling of recognition. The performance is written, directed and performed by Marianne herself.
– The character Ragnhild is freely inspired by Knut Hamsun's unforgettable August and a comic book character I created in 2020 with the same name, says Marianne.
Finally – what is the best thing about living on Hamarøy?
–The best thing about living on Hamarøy is that it is a short distance to the “stage”. For me, it means that I can put creative projects into practice, whether it is forcing the children in the cultural school to stage a play that I have written, singing solo with the Teachers’ Band or when I get the opportunity to have my own performance at The Hamsun Days - an established and serious festival in the region. That all of this is possible, even though I myself am not yet a very established and serious artist. And of course the nature, mountains and sea and the tranquility, says Nordland patriot Marianne Lauritsen.
We wish Marianne good luck with the performance on Wednesday, August 7th.
