Article
13. september 2024
It’s an important tradition for us. This year’s play took place in June, with packed stands and sold-out supplies. Kinnaspelet is a major local event, bringing together performers of various backgrounds and ages. This year, 135 people took the stage—everyone from villagers, Vikings, Danish soldiers, monks, and musicians gave their best on Kinn. About 40 of them are under 16 years old. In addition, 25 people from Teater Vestland joined the production.
Welcome to the Theater by the Sea
Blue seas and high skies, Kinnaklova, and the old stone church from the 12th century greet you at Kinn. Here, on the shoreline as far west as you can go in Norway, stands one of the oldest churches in the country—where no one would expect a church to be built. No one knows for sure who built it, but ancient legends tell of holy men from the islands of the Irish Sea who settled here, likely sometime in the 10th century.
Song of the Great Deep
The Kinnaspelet "Song of the Great Deep" tells the story of when the Danish king’s bailiff arrives at Kinn in 1537 to announce the end of the Catholic Church. The king will now take possession of all church property, and a new Lutheran priest is to be appointed. This message is not easily received by the people of Kinn, who are in the midst of celebrating the Seljumannamesse. The audience is taken back to the 10th century and the village’s “little church play” about Princess Sunniva from Ireland, who flees from the Viking king Ramn, who wants to make her his queen. Together with her followers, she sets out to sea in boats without sails, rudders, or oars, leaving their fate to the winds and currents. She is carried ashore on Selja and later becomes St. Sunniva, the patron saint of Western Norway. The boats are separated, and her sister Borni drifts ashore on Kinn. According to legend, it is she who was responsible for the building of Kinnakyrkja.
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