The sleeping man
The first duet in a trilogy by Gunilla Witt

Since 1990, Gunilla Witt has made herself a name as an original Nordic choreographer and poet with a number of successful solo performances. In a combination of dance and poetry she is telling the story of a woman and her position in the world and in the language.

Her company Gunilla Witt Dance & Poetry is based in Göteborg, Sweden with the experimental venue Atalante as home arena.

The latest performance by the company is The sleeping man which opened at Atalante, 13th September 2000. It was also performed at Moderna Dansteatern, Stockholm and at Dansstationen, Malmö during the spring of 2001 in a total of 40 performances. The dance is a duet. For the first time in a choreograpy by Gunilla Witt the female dancer leaves her solitary room and meets a man.

The story takes place in a deserted summerhouse at a seaside resort. The woman has a rendez-vous with a man. The time is set between the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The man sleeps through the whole performance. That doesn´t stop the woman from dancing with him.

The 50-minute long duet is accompanied live on stage by the composer Niklas Rydén on guitar. The woman, portrayed by dancer Anna Westberg ("a brilliant dancer and actress" Dagens Nyheter) is also singing. The part of the sleeping man is played by Mark Blomgren. The audience, limited to 40 persons per night, is sitting on stage alongside the inside walls, watching the drama on the floor. The drama between a woman and a sleeping man in a house near the North Sea.

The sleeping man
Idea & choreography Gunilla Witt
Dancers Anna Westberg, Mark Blomgren Live
music Niklas Rydén
Set design Carina Søe-Knudsen
Light design Anna Wemmert Clausen
Costumes Ulrika Johansson
Make-up Mirjam Önner Angleflod
Producer Mika Becker
Lenght of performance 50 min
Première 13th September 2000

The critics wrote about the performance:

Attractive... enjoyable... communicative.
Expressen, Stockholm

An important step in the dance of Göteborg... a fantastic spectre of emotions.
Göteborgs-Posten

Sensous, wild and poetic.
Arbetet, Göteborg

I can´t think of a performance with more presence than this one.
GöteborgsTidningen

An existential thriller!
Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm

The sleeping man is the first duet in a new trilogy by Gunilla Witt. The second duet will be an encounter between a grown up daughter and her aging mother. It will open at Atalante in Göteborg 11th September 2002. The trilogy will portray the three most important relations and collisions in the intimate life of a woman.

Between May 18 and June 5, she is on tour in China together with choreographer Eva Ingemarsson, also working at Atalante. Gunilla Witt is presenting the solo "The madwoman in the attic" (1998), performed by dancer Anna Westberg, in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanking and Tianjing.