Terminus

A middle-aged, worn-out woman is lying on a hotel bed sleeping. A bottle of champagne and a few glasses are on the nightstand. Lola awakens suddenly and gets out of bed with a roar ...  

How did the weary Lola end up in a comfortable hotel bed? Is she wasted – again – or dead and in heaven?  After all, she was sick – as were all her friends on the street.

But the wounds are now healed, the sheets are clean and the wine is cold. Lola finds herself in a Superior Comfort Room at Hotel Terminus – with her own social media account called Lovely Lola.    

Like a modern-day Jeppe (from the playwright Holberg), Lola is bamboozled into a drama in which she plays the leading role. The hotel staff play jokes on her and pus-filled sores become a distant memory when Lola stumbles across luxury and popularity.    

Outside room 314, the voices of demonstrators, commentators and politicians can be heard. Inside, Lola cries out a familiar tale, depressed over having been abandoned, not being heard or seen or helped when she needed it most.    

What kind of responsibility do we have to each other – and what does that entail nowadays? What exactly does it mean to be sick – or healthy? What is real and what is staged? These are the questions asked in Terminus, but without providing clear answers.    

This completely new opera is the brainchild of Therese Birkelund Ulvo, one of Norway’s leading young Norwegian composers. The librettist is Marit Eikemo, best known for her articulate, socially critical and entertaining writing. The director is Maren E. Bjørseth, who is behind a number of works at the Norwegian Theatre,  the National Theatre and the Oslo Nye Teater.  

Photo: Adam Olsson

Artists

• Magnus Loddgard musical director

• Maren Bjørseth director

• Olav Myrtved set design, costumes

• Norunn Standal lighting design

• Edvard Grieg Choir

• Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

• Full cast to be announced later

Music by

• Ulvo

Works

• Therese Birkelund Ulvo music

• Marit Eikemo libretto
  Terminus

Language

• Performed in Norwegian, with Norwegian surtitles

A co-production between

Bergen International Festival and Bergen National Opera with Musikkselskapet Harmonien and Edvard Grieg Choirs, The Norwegian Opera and Ballet and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Opera.