Friends

Backstage

Uddrag fra Tue Bierings “Hostages of me”:

Popular Culture as a Shortcut

The TV series Friends is familiar to most. It is perhaps the world’s most watched sitcom. In addition, many generations have an almost friendly relationship with the six people who, over ten seasons, sat in some pastel-coloured apartments in New York and tried to make their lives work. In turn, we have a hard time connecting with the people sitting in asylums all around us. People who, like Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe, etc., are also waiting for their lives to make sense. The only thing I knew about asylum seekers were documentaries and press articles, where they were mostly depicted in black and white photos, deeply traumatized and blank in their gaze. Was it possible to create the same close connection with asylum seekers than with the characters in an American sit-com – and maybe even create the feeling of being friends with them?

With a large cast of asylum seekers, we every night for a period of time created a new episode of FRIENDS – THE ONE WITH THE ASYLUM SEEKERS AND SOME REJECTED ONES (2010). We created a studio with cameras and sets from the familiar locations from the series. The audience was instructed by a host to be the live studio audience for the live recording of the day. The cast, who came from the Middle East, parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia, had four hours of rehearsals that day for the evening’s episode, while each night new famous Danish guest stars arrived to play smaller roles. It was recognizable and safe for the audience to be in the FRIENDS’ family, and we could sit and laugh at their silly harmless problems with friendships, work, boyfriend troubles, and cable TV. All played by a cast of people with backgrounds in war, persecution, extreme poverty, etc.

It was fun to make and it was great to see the performers freed from their daily meaninglessness. To laugh with them and get to know them was one thing, but the fact that they took a detour into our consciousness through a silly popular cultural classic, which had made the distance between us smaller, was outright fantastic.

På billederne ses:
Uddrag fra manuskriptet
+
Skitser: Udkast til scenografi
+
Holdet bag “FRIENDS – Den Med Asylansøgerne”. Billederne er bla. fra de prøver, der blev afholdt om dagen forud for aftenens forestilling
+
Casting/workshop på Røde Kors’ Asylcenter Kongelunden. Centret blev lukket i 2018 efter mange års problemer med skimmelsvamp. Du kan læse mere om Kongelunden, der var et omsorgscenter for særligt sårbare asylsøgere, lige HER
+
Fotos af produktionsholdet med deres arbejdsbeskrivelser
+
Foto fra prøverne på NyAveny (nu Aveny T)
+
Fest for hele holdet på NyAveny (nu Aveny T)
+
Forestillingsplakaten i glas og ramme, der hænger på fix+foxy’s kontor på Vesterbro i 2023