Mio, min Mio

Stageplay version of Astrid Lindgren's timeless classic MIO, MIN MIO, adapted for stage and directed by Hilde Brinchmann, with actors Iver Innset, Amalie Ibsen Jensen, Dagfinn Tutturen and Rune Storsæter Løding. A co-production between Teatret Vårt and Nordland Teater, MIO, MIN MIO was an instant classic with the critics as well as the audience, winning the prestigious Hedda Award for Best Children's Play in 2019. The soundtrack was nominated for the "Best Original Score for Other Media" Award at the 2019 Reel Music Awards.

Since the original run in 2018–2019, MIO has been playing at Heddadagene in 2019, and later on a long tour with Riksteatret in 2022 with a new cast: Arjan Nilsen, Maja Christiansen and Martin Karelius Østensen. In 2023 and 2024 the production has crossed the Norwegian border, and is now playing at Aalborg Teater, Denmark, starring Østen Borre Simonsen, Clara Josephine Manley and Lars Topp Thomsen.

What felt important with MIO was that the music should depict the larger-than-life adventure, but also allude to its intimate, melancholy subtext – and never forget the personal story at its core. When the source material is as powerful as Astrid Lindgren's MIO, MIN MIO (first published in 1954), inspiration comes quick and fast. It's often a case of reading the script and just listening – the melodies may already be there! One fascinating thing about MIO is that the story is told in a way that everything somehow feels inevitable. Holding on to that, I had a strong feeling that the melodies both should feel simple and carry that same feel of inevitability. To quote Mio: "You cannot change what has already been decided for thousands and thousands of years!"

MIO, MIN MIO was my first collaboration with amazing stage writer/director Hilde Brinchmann, and my second foray into the classic fantasy world of Astrid Lindgren, after 2014's THE BROTHERS LIONHEART directed by Svein Sturla Hungnes.