Members of the RCN Theatre EAC group presented ‘Things I Know To Be True’ on Saturday night in the Høegh. The story of an Australian family, the Prices, the theatre company Frantic Assembly’s interpretation of Andrew Bovell’s original script was brought to life by a truly outstanding cast co-directed by first year students Beth (UK) and Ingebjørg (Norway), both of whom received a standing ovation and bouquets at the close.

The story is told through the eyes of the four grown-up Price siblings: Rosie (Helene -Norway) the drifting, wannabe creative writer whose heart is broken during a whirlwind romance in Berlin; Pip (Magdalena – Austria) the hard-working daughter who leaves her husband and children to start a new life – almost certainly doomed – with a married man in Vancouver; Mark (Jack – UK) the son who has always felt the least-loved, who leaves home to begin a new life in Sydney transitioning from Mark to Mia; and Ben (Oskar – Denmark), the hard-living accountant who wants to fit in with his rich, privately educated colleagues and steals money to try to do so.

This story of love, marriage, missed life chances, despair, theft, identity, sex and death had the audience cheering ecstatically (and crying profusely) at the end of the show. Arran (Canada) as the father, Bob and Ea (Denmark) as the mother, Fran, struggled to understand how their plans and dreams for their children could be taken from them or fall apart in front of their eyes.

Arran brought a totally believable fatherly confusion and anger to play; Ea’s Fran, sneaking off for a rare cigarette, admitting she had had the chance to start a new life with another man, had “settled for” Bob but could barely understand how or why – totally true to life. In the end, falling asleep at the wheel after a long shift at the hospital where she works, Fran is killed, her death the defining familial moment, that least unexpected phone call that could, ironically, bring the family together – if only in helpless grief.

Pete Wilson, long-standing IB Theatre teacher at RCN, took time to congratulate the two directors and individual members of the cast after the performance and informed each one in turn that, for him, this had been the most moving, professional, well-directed and wholly absorbing student production he had seen at the College.

(For more pictures, click here.)

Stopp Valden was instigated in 1995 after 17 year old Andreas Stavseth was shot in the street in Oslo, and the ensuing programme has the aim to stop violence and bullying in all its forms. On Thursday 4^th April, members of our Red Cross Youth Group were invited to speak at Dale VGS as part of their Safe Russetid programme. We represented Fjaler Red Cross in talking about the Stopp Valden programme, by three members of the youth group: Maja (Norway), Juan Pablo (USA), and Devina  (Indonesia), along with Red Cross Coordinator Avis Rolfe (UK). They addressed the following questions:

• Do you see inclusion round you? How do you include others?
• What creates a safe environment?
• How can we respect people’s boundaries at russetid?
• What is bullying?

It was great to see that a good number of people already feel like the school is an inclusive and welcoming place, but the activity also highlighted different perspectives that exist on this topic. Hopefully the session gave the participants a pause for thought when approaching russetid, and a moment to reflect on making the celebrations safe and inclusive for everyone.