DOCUMENTARY dark humoured THEATRE 53 min. + Q&A
LECTURE with scenes from “STAYER”, duration as requested + Q&A
What happened at the fatal moment of the car-crash and through the following year?
A whole year within the walls of a hospital; Coby Omvlee, a dedicated theatre artist, stored her experiences and observations in and about today’s health sevices in Norway. With a need to share it all, STAYER came into being – black humoured documentary theatre.
She survived the crash, and thanks to a skilled surgeon, competent nurses, her husband (a medical doctor), her own efforts, intravenous nutrition and a large social network, she also survived her time in the hospital. But misjudgements and routine failures threatened her life several times. Her experiences and observations left serious questions. How could this happen?
She read everything she came across for a couple of years, before contacting filmmaker Randi Størseth. They started a round of interviews lasting two years, eventually interviewing 27 health experts and -employees around Scandinavia. She posed her questions to those who might have the best answers on patient safety. Were there connections between everyday work at the hospital and a larger picture? And where to find hope for the future, both for patients and health workers?
In close collaboration with theatre colleagues, STAYER was created. The performance is touching, and searches deeply into the subject matter, which in turn stimulates to conversation and debate.
We encourage organisers to appoint a moderator in advance, and if possible a panel, for a rich debate.
REVIEWS of STAYER
The author has interviewed many (many!) doctors, nurses, historians, journalists, hospital managers and researchers and interviews are included in the performance. … I have a feeling that daringly asked questions deeply resonate with the theater audience …, and they are going to be re-questioned.
Zane Datava, The LIST, (What’s on) Trondheim, thelist.no
… The actress is herself the patient at stake, and it does not lack humor and spark of life …
Hans H. Wasmuth, gastrological surgeon, chief physician, St. Olavs hospital, Trondheim, Norway
Actress Coby Omvlee and director Anne Mali Sæther have created a gem of a performance, using a playful and humorous approach to raise some important questions … on key elements in the organizing of our health care system.
Trond Hannemyr, artistic director PIT (Porsgrunn International Theater Festival)
The performance … manages to give the spectators a nuanced, humorous and critical view of the encounter between the ill and the system supposed to help and protect the ill’s life and health.
Wenche Torrissen, Associate Professor, Project Culture and Health, Volda University College
Zane Datava, The LIST, (What’s on) Trondheim, thelist.no
A truly interesting artistic encounter with our health service is not an every day event. In a way that is strange, since our Health Service is where our society is closest to closest to life’s existential dramas.
Scenekunst.no , Sigurd Ziegler
Everybody has heard similar stories, quite a few has been close to this with friends, relatives or one self. Through finely tuned means Coby Omvlee in «Stayer» tells a story most people can relate to …
Adressa newspaper, Ole Jacob Hoel, Trondheim, Norway
… and last, but not least a fantastic theater performance wrapping up the year. The piece «Stayer» hit the nail on its head and was really spot on about how terribly amiss/disastrous things can end up, but also with what it feels like as a patient to meet nurses, doctors, community and more, when seriously ill.NSF’s (Norwegian Nurses Organization) professional group of nurses in gastroenterology
TRAILER (1:59)
Financed by: Fritt Ord Foundation, Writers’ Guild of Norway, Norwegian Cultural Fund, ExtraFoundation Health and Rehabilitation, National Association Against Digestive Diseases, Norwegian Actors’ Equity Association, Sør-Trøndelag county municipality, Trondheim municipality, Foundation for Performing Artists, Culture Council of Norway.
SPIN-OFFS
In 2019 Omvlee was invited as a member of the reflective panel in the UKOM ( Norwegian State Healthcare Investigation Board)
September 2020 she participates with «Stayer» (short) in The European Patient Safety Foundation/ImproveThinkTank’s Strategic Meeting in Brussels.
November 22 she will start her involvement as a patient representative in the SENSAR/ESAIC project. (SENSAR: Spanish patient safety scientific organisation) ESAIC:European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care)
