Goodbye Kitty (2017)
A concert, a party, a theatre and dance performance all in one!
You are invited to a farewell party! Or is it a welcoming party? When you say goodbye to something, aren’t you also welcoming something new?
Goodbye Kitty is a playful, immersive theatrical experience for children aged 9-12, that invites the audience into a space where the political becomes personal - a show about gender identity and new possibilities. Rebekka/Huy hosts an event that celebrates gender creativity and creates a space where children and adults can spend time together and contemplate who they want to become.
The audience is warmly welcomed into an intimate space/venue that’s transformed into a club for kids, and invited to sit closely together on the floor. Ambient music fills the space. Ambient becomes pop, and the pop music becomes club music. What starts out as a concert turns into a dance floor where the performers move in between the audience, in a playful exploration of who we can be and become. During the show the performers invite the audience to move around and experience the space/show from different perspectives. The carpet on the floor suddenly transforms into a sequinned gown, and the space that was just a dance floor becomes a cathedral of possibilities. What seemed to be a club scene for kids becomes a contemplative space where everybody closes their eyes together to dream about the future. A theatrical event about identity - that constantly changes its own identity and refuses to be labelled.
Goodbye Kitty takes a stand against the tyranny of the pink/superhero dichotomy that rules over schoolyards. By meeting and embracing the popular culture children and youth are exposed to, and by uniting pop, plastic, politics, and poetry, Rebekka/Huy have created a sensory experience that celebrates possibilities.
Goodbye Kitty! Hello Kitty! Bye! Farewell! Goodbye! - to all the labels, to ’normal’ and ’abnormal’, to everything we have to be, should be and must be. Hello to a new future! Join us in celebrating that you can be however you want to be!
Goodbye Kitty will tour in Norway in 2019/2020. The performance is also available in English.
"Når følelsen av å være annerledes får et rom det er godt å være i. (...) Den blander konsert, dans, performancekunst og korte talesekvenser til en løst forbundet scenekunstopplevelse der vekten ligger på opplevelsen, og tilskueren har mulighet til å velge sin egen forståelse av innholdet - eller la være"
"At last – a space where feeling different can feel good. (…) a mix of dance, performance art, concert, and short spoken-word sequences in a loosely connected theatre happening where the focus is on experience, and the viewer has the possibility to choose their own understanding of the content – or not, if they prefer."
- (5/6)
- Lillian Bikset, Dagbladet 6.november 2017
- http://lillianbikset.blogspot.com/2018/02/november-2017-goodbye-kitty.html
"(...) ei audiovisuell og særs sanseleg reise gjennom masse populærkulturelle referansar som er lett gjenkjennelege for målgruppa. Gjennom kreativ bruk av presentasjonsforma og språket til mye av den kulturen vi skal ta avskil med, blir vi tekne med inn i eit opplevingsunivers der publikum får høve til å tolke og forstå akkurat som dei sjølve vil. Og det er nettopp denne opninga for dei tolkningar du sjølv måtte ha, som gjer fremsyninga så spesiell og vellukka."
"A remarkable audiovisual journey through a mass of pop-culture references which the target audience can easily recognise. Through creative presentations formats and use of the patois of the very culture we’re confronting, we’re taken into a universe of experience where the audience has the right to interpret and understand the material in any way they want. And it is this gesture to individual open interpretation that makes the performance so unique and successful."
- Amund Grimstad, Klassekampen 6.november 2017
- http://amund.info/2017/11/goodbye-kitty/
"Barneforestillingen er en fest som forhåpentligvis blir husket av både barn og foreldre, den dagen spørsmålene kommer. (...) Goodbye Kitty er også et stykke med mange og store spørsmål. Om identitet, kropp og kjønn, om rollene jenter og gutter får utdelt fra starten av i livet, og hvordan vi kan se for oss at framtida blir. (...) Jeg liker forestillingen veldig godt. Det er gøy å være på fest der du virkelig føler deg velkommen, og her skjer det noe hele tiden."
"This children’s show is a party that one hopes will be remembered by children and their parents when those difficult questions start being asked. (…) Goodbye Kitty is also a piece that asks many - and many big questions. (It’s) about identity, the body, gender, the roles that girls and boys are given at the start of their lives, and how we might imagine the future to be. (…) I liked this performance very much. It’s great fun to be at a party where you really feel welcome, and at this party that happens the whole time.
- (5/6)
- Gry Støre, Sunnmørsposten, 9.november 2017
"Stykkets form er både frisk, glad og fengende. Det er nesten umulig ikke å la seg rive med av ensemblets engasjement. Det virker som om de koser seg i scenerommet, en scene stadig i forandring siden publikum starter i midten imens aktørene beveger seg rundt. Så plutselig sitter de i blant oss. (...) Som publikum blir vi også en del av stykket. Dette forsterkes ved at skuespillerene henvender seg direkte til oss. Denne intimiteten blir forsterket ved en lun og kreativ lyssetting. Scenerommet er et trygt og godt sted å være."
"The show’s form is refreshing, upbeat and captivating. It’s almost impossible to not be infected by the ensemble’s engaging energy. They seem to really be enjoying themselves in the playing space, a stage that’s constantly changing because the audience is at the centre while the actors move around them. And suddenly they are seated with us ( …) and the audience becomes a part of the performance. This aspect is amplified when the actors speak directly to us. This intimacy is intensified by a warm and creative light design. The performance space is a lovely and safe place to be."
- (5/6)
- Svein Rune Nyland, Romsdals Budstikke, 24.november 2017
"Kjønn, seksualitet og barneteatrets opprør mot normene. (...) et hyperkommersielt sted som Burger King reproduserer den samme stereotypiske kjønnskulturen som Goodbye Kitty kritiserer – hvor gutter går i blått og leker med biler eller action figurer, og jenter er kledd i rosa og leker med dukker i samme fargepalett. ”Ha det til at andre kan bestemme hvordan jeg kan være!”, roper de fire utøverne i Goodbye Kitty. Og det er nettopp et farvel til en dualistisk tenkning om kjønn – og seksualitet, interesser og generelt måte å være i verden på – som ønskes farvel i forestillingen."
"Gender, sexuality and the Children’s theatre’s rebellion against normalcy. ( … ) a hypercommercial place like Burger King reproduces the same stereotypical gender culture that Goodbye Kitty criticizes – where boys wear blue and play with toy cars or action figures, and girls are dressed in pink and play with dolls dressed in the same colour palette. “Goodbye to other people deciding how I can be!”, shout the four performers in Goodbye Kitty. The performance bids farewell to dualistic thinking around gender, sexuality, interests and how we live in the world."
- Anette Therese Pettersen, scenekunst.no, 28.november 2017
- http://www.scenekunst.no/sak/kjonn-seksualitet-og-barneteatrets-oppror-mot-normene/
- By: Rebekka/Huy
- Concept and direction: Rebekka Nystabakk og Huy Le Vo
- Set design, light- and costume design: Chrisander Brun
- Composer: Rakel Nystabakk
- Co-creating performers: Ellen Andreassen, Lars August Jørgensen, Magnus Myhr, Rakel Nystabakk
- Dramaturgical consultant: Cecilie Lundsholt
- Producer: Annika Ostwald
- Photo: Chrisander Brun
- A co-production between Rebekka/Huy and Barneteatret Vårt (Our Children's Theatre)
- Premiére 4.november 2017 at Barneteatret Vårt i Ålesund.
- 2020
- TBA
- 2019
- Dansenett Norge
- http://www.dansenettnorge.no
- Hamar kulturhus, Hamar
- https://www.hamar-kulturhus.no/januar/goodbye-kitty-velkommen-til-a-se-verden-litt-pa-nytt-article2739-416.html
- 23.01.19 - 12.00 (lukket forestilling)
- 23.01.19 - 18.00
- Brygga kultursal, Halden
- 25.01.19 - 10.00 (skoleforestilling)
- 25.01.19 - 12.00 (skoleforestilling)
- Buen kulturhus, Mandal
- 28.01.19 - 17.00 (lukket forestilling)
- Varen kulturscene, Randaberg
- 31.01.19 - 11.30 (skoleforestilling)
- 31.01.19 - 13.15 (skoleforestilling)
- Tou, Stavanger
- http://touscene.com/program/vis/10763
- 01.02.19 - 13.00
- Drammens teater, studioscenen, Drammen
- https://www.drammenscener.no/teatret/program/2970-goodbye-kitty/
- 02.03.19 - 13.00
- DKS Oppland
- Plan B, Lillehammer
- 18.03.19 - 31.03.19
- 2018
- Festspillene i Nord-Norge
- 26.06.18 - 13.00
- 26.06.18 - 17.00
- Kortreist dansefestival
- 28.06.18 - 16.15
- 28.06.18 - 18.00
- Teaterfestivalen i Fjaler
- 12.09.18 - 09.15
- 12.09.18 - 12.00
- 12.09.18 - 13.30
- 13.09.18 - 11.00
- 13.09.18 - 13.00
- 14.09.18 - 09.30
- 14.09.18 - 12.00
- 14.09.18 - 13.30
- 2017
- Barneteatret Vårt i Ålesund
- 04.11.17 - 18:00
- 09.11.17 - 18:00
- 11.11.17 - 18:00
- 12.11.17 - 16.00
- 16.11.17 - 18:00
- 18.11.17 - 14:00
- 19.11.17 - 16:00
- Teatret Vårt i Molde
- 22.11.17 - 18:00
- 25.11.17 - 14:00
- 25.11.17 - 16:00
- 26.11.17 - 16:00
- 26.11.17 - 18:00
- 03.12.17 - 13.00
- 03.12.17 - 14.30
- Showbox, Oslo
- 28.11.17 - 14.30
- 29.11.17 - 11.30
- 29.11.17 - 13.30
Supported by: Norsk Kulturråd, Spenn.no, Fond for utøvende kunstnere, Fond for lyd og bilde, Dramatikkens hus and Fond for Frilansere. Co-production: Barneteatret Vårt i Ålesund.