Theatre
Ungen
Not translated into English
Oskar Braaten · 1911
Opening lines
Engebret
Jeg kan ikke skjønne slikt, jeg, gett! Neimen om jeg det kan!
I can't understand such a thing, I can't, by golly! I'm blessed if I can!
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from nb.no
Synopsis
Near the factories of the Akerselva, in Kristiania, the factory worker Milja loves Julius, a mill hand who is popular with women. He leaves her for Petrina, another worker, and Milja is left alone with a child born out of wedlock. So that she can work, she leaves it during the day with Hønse-Lovisa, who looks after the children of single mothers. A doctor looking for children to place with well-off people then comes to propose that she give up her own.
Context
The play appeared in 1911 with the subtitle “popular life in four acts”, and Bokselskap sees it as the moment when the author established himself. The National Theatre premiered it on 24 April 1913 in a production by Halfdan Christensen, with Mette Bull as Milja and Johanne Voss as Hønse-Lovisa. Rasmus Breistein brought it to the screen in 1938, Barthold Halle in 1974, as a musical drama. The reading guide of the University of South-Eastern Norway reads it as a picture of factory workers at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Who it is for
Four acts never translated into French or English, about the women workers of Oslo's factories and the fate of single mothers.
Prizes and reception
The play that made its author known according to Bokselskap, first staged at the National Theatre and later adapted twice for the cinema.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.