WANT ME by Rolf Alme – 2016

Oslo School of Arts Communication and Technology

An image of a generation.

WANT ME was created as the Bachelor performance for 9 acting students. The script is based on texts and ideas the students had regarding their own reality here and now. After having directed the classical dramas “Caligula” and “Electra” with them during their study, I found it important to write a contemporary text for them based on their own lives.

When I received the ideas and text-fragments from the students I understood that this performance would be some kind of a contemporary tragedy. The digital world demanding the constant presentation of a perfect life and the immense fear of isolation and loneliness were the overwhelming themes.

The performance is inspired by performance art. The texts are performed directly to the audience while the actors are focusing on physical actions related to the texts. Music by Philip Glass and Max Richter accompany the entire performance.

Dramaturgically the performance is composed as a linear presentation of nine young characters. Gradually connections are created between them and at the end it culminates in a dense web of interacting tragic stories.