After having said a few things on Facebook about Carl I. Hagen and his way of behaving in public life, things that I could well say again, I still had to think. Of course, it is right to say that many have turned a deaf ear to him and other people in FrP through the years. Some of it is, I think, due to snobbery, but also both the content and the form of many of the suggestions or demands have been really problematic. I mean, to suggest that the National Theatre could well be turned into a casino is only one of quite a lot of provocative statements.
If you should happen to think that we actually need artists and an art life, or maybe that society in general was not that bad, for instance…there has been ample reason for being angry with them, on many fields. They have not presented themselves particularly nicely or adequately.
This, I think, was never a real proposal – the comment was made as a provocation several years ago. But the conflict between those who attend theatre and concerts and those who usually don’t is still there, I think, the ”popular” and the ”educated” part of the population want to spend public money differently. Still, the number of events and concertgoers are all pretty high right now, and I hope this divide is getting smaller. The theatre is running as usual. There are luckily no plans of turning it into a casino, the “proposal” never reached any place beyond newspaper headlines. Norway even got its new opera house recently, here in Oslo, a fantastic place and a great building, but it did not happen without conflict.
The thought of exchanging the National Theater for a casino is short sighted at best. Unfortunately the benefits of the theater are intangible and impossible to put a price tag on. Although one may argue that a casino may generate more revenue, it has no cultural value and will leave the community culturally bankrupt. I hope they choose to keep the theater, Norway will be better for it.