‘Red Autumn’ had its world premiere at Grusomhetens Teater (The Theatre of Cruelty) in Oslo on the 20th November 2024 and played until the 30th November 2024.

 
It is nature which speaks in this performance. The forests in Enebakk where she grew up, were Ragnhild Jølsen's source of inspiration for her literary work. In the silence among the
tree trunks there was a force that challenged a world stagnated in masculine principles. Perhaps, it can be said that in her writing she holds up the shadowy parts of life that a capitalist system tries to vindicate, or simply run away from.
 
Her creative outlet was in many ways her dreams, a lost utopia – memories of the garden from her childhood, before she encountered a more restrictive reality. Jølsen did not want to, or perhaps could not, adapt. This pressure ate at her. Giving in would have been a betrayal – too great a sacrifice. She fell outside, and in the end it cost her her life. A spark – a human soul – that is extinguished under the weight of an apathetic and capitalist society. A place where light and freedom are shut out by political and social circumstances. One can draw parallels to global events that particularly affect women – the Taliban, abortion laws in the USA, and so on.
 
In keeping with the repertoire of the Theatre of Cruelty, this is not just a critique of our social society and how it continues to mistreat those who fall outside. As a theatre that seeks to
realise Artaud’s vision for a metaphysical, corporeal and magical theatre, we also try to reach emotions in the collective unconscious. A theatre that dares to go outside – that attacks the senses. A physical theatre where we as humans are confronted with both our dark and bright sides, our struggles and our longings.
 

“And finally it set a blaze, the red Autumn, where no tainted glass is needed – Death” –
Ragnhild Jølsen