TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

It’s always interesting to see how our heroes are received outside the English-speaking world. Norwegian author Jesper Halle has published a play called Sandy og Richard. When I suggested on another forum that this play sounded “slightly bonkers” I was swiftly corrected. Of course, what I should have said was “totally bonkers”. Here’s the publisher’s blurb for the German edition (in my translation):

“Sandy and Richard are singer and guitarist in a band and friends of long standing. Recently Richard’s girlfriend and another friend lost their lives in a car accident. The two of them rail against fate, fear death, long for love and happiness, and give expression to all this in their music, which is their anchor for survival.

Inspired by British folk legends Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention), the play conveys a feeling for life: for the Sixties, the yearnings of the young, love of music. Beginning with a snapshot of the two band members, their sorrow and loneliness, in the course of the play the two develop an increasingly strong affection for one another. Nonetheless, Richard seems unable to come to terms with the loss of his two fellow human beings. Again and again he returns, in secret, to playing a dangerous game, ‘Russian roulette’. One night he is caught in the act by Sandy. When she suddenly takes possession of the gun and points it at him, the game turns to deadly earnest.

With Sandy and Richard the Norwegian author Jesper Halle has written a serene play about friendship, music and love, a play mimicking the inner life of someone coming of age. With clear language and forceful scenes Halle creates a great intimacy, made even stronger by music. In ways that are tender, genuine and touching, the two main characters are brought together by their longings and fears and their reflections on life and death.”
http://www.felix-bloch-erben.de      
 

Heavens! :o That sounds a bit weird to me..... :o

Oh dear, oh dear  :o

Oh God.... How stupid

And disrespectful  >:(

Very weird ... and sick.

I'm not sure that we can make any judgements without seeing the play. It is clearly meant to be a piece of fiction and not about SD & RT. The author may have been naive to use those names though. It sounds to me as if it is in the tradition of something like The Hours & The Times, a fiction inspired by real people. I doubt very much that the author intended it to be disrespectful. Quite the opposite I suspect. They are the catalyst for exploring certain emotions in dramatic form.

On the other hand, it might just be a very bad play! It sounds sort of Scandinavian Sam Shepherd to me!

Or, indeed, reading it. I've asked the Norwegian chap who first discovered this to check the plot - I believe he has a copy. The word I hastily translated as "gun" actually means "weapon" and the whole thing could be figurative in an obliquely Scandinavian sort of way. Maybe Richard's guitar is the "weapon"? I'll report back when I know more.

Good grief.

It sounds like bad fan fiction without the spelling mistakes! :o

This could be Fairport's ground-breaking "Knife In The Water" don't you reckon?