When the dead awakes

September 4-6 2009


In cooperation with representatives from: 

Zoublistan, Midgaard Historical Center, County of Horten – “Verden i Horten”, County of Vestfold, students from Høgskolen i Vestfold, Ter je Gansum, Aktiv Ungdom EVS – European Voluntary Service and the artist Tollef Thorsnes

The Norwegian folk song “Don’t waste good summer nights on sleep” took on a whole new meaning when Stella Polaris premiered it’s new production “When the Dead Awakes – A play of Dreams” at the burial grounds at Borrehaugene in Horten. 

Midgaard Historical Centre wrote on their website: Stella Polaris rounded off the day with their new production “When the Dead Awakes” The performance was full of energy, references to Nordic sources, freefloating and playfull acting with spectacular costumes. The audience was spellbound and carried away to a world of freedom and exuberance and we can honestly congratulate Stella Polaris with a brilliant performance! “When the Dead Awakes” is a historical play like you have never seen it. Stella Polaris presents a Nordic epic within the frame of a vision of a common origin for us all and a great whish for global unification. The burial grounds at Borre and throughout Vestfold County were very important sites for those who made them. They were sacred sites were rites were performed throughout the Viking era. This background is now explored further with the play staged by Stella Polaris.




Dance- and theatre critic Fredrik Rütter note in Tønsbergs Blad : “Life, The burial grounds at Borre and mortality” “All actors, young and old is burning with an intense energy. They dive into this story with passion, a wild rage and love. The audience is carried on a wave of history seething from the burial grounds and lifted back to the here and now.” 

Thorugh studies of artefacts, written sources as Ibn Fadlan, Snorre Sturlassons Sagas and Tacitus as well as through exciting collaboration with the Historical Centre at Midgaard in Horten and it’s leader Terje Gansum, Stella Polaris wishes to recreate actions and incidents described in early texts from burials, weddings and fertility rites and bring them to new life through a spectacular outdoor performance. 



Who were the people who built these grave sites? What was their modus of thought and how did they act? And last but not least, where did they come from?
These are the main issues of this new Stella Polaris fable.
The burial sites at Borre and in other parts of Vestfold have revealed different truths as technology and research have uncovered new sides of the histories of their contents. Stella Polaris plays with the myths of Snorre Sturlasson, the explorations of Thor Heyerdahl and modern scientists theories of how the Ynglinge-People migrated from the Black Sea to Scandinavia. 

Stella Polaris has invited national and international theatre workers and artists to join the project. Through Stella Polaris’ participation in the European Voluntary Service programme EVS (Aktiv Ungdom), 18 young actors and culture workers from various European countries participate with authentic folk art performances from their respective cultures. Stella Polaris believes that merging new knowledge of Nordic Mythology with different European cultural heritages, hitherto unknown common grounds will be revealed. Based on this work Stella Polaris wishes to present a vision of a common ancestry and a hope for global unification in the setting of a Nordic historical play. 

When The Dead Awakes
A ritual play where actors and audience wanders through history without a script but with a choreography that is in constant eveolvement and motion. The evolvement occurs as new actors add their own rituals from cultures as far away as the Black Sea but still within the frame of the Nordic expression. This is a process that will go on and hopefully alter our perceptions as well as our skills, scenography and music. 

2009 – Year of Cultural Heritage
“Keeping our cultural heritage alive”
Stella Polaris is about to create a new kind of historical play at the Burial Grounds of Borre. The park is one of the most important Nordic heritage sites.



Norwegian Department of Culture sites as a goal for this year: We aim to present all sides of our cultural heritage, the spiritual as well as the material. The material sites and buildings obvious as important historic landmarks, but very empty and hard to grasp if not filled with myths, stories and knowledge in order for us to make the pages of history come to life. Only then does the material and spiritual world merge and bring us stories that touch our hearts. “When The Dead Awakes” is Stella Polaris’ way of keeping our cultural heritage alive.

Last year’s premiere was part of the Vestfold Festival programme and was the main attraction at their World Music stage. The 2009 performance is part of Horten County’s celebration of “The World in Horten”, were cultures from all over the world present food and cultural happenings at Borre on Saturday September 5th. 

WELCOME TO AN EVENING OF DREAMS AND TRAVELS IN PAST AND PRESENT !