Polymer is the tittle of the latest theater experience created by the students of Rønningen Folk High School-HI Hostel. The musical -which has been performed seven times between March 16th and 19th – deals with one of the major environmental challenges that humanity has to face in our present days: the plastic pollution. The performance was originally written by the students and directed by their Theater professor Henrik Årdal.

During three weeks, over 100 students from 18 to 21 years old have participated in the complex elaboration of this musical. It has been a lot of work! Apart from the creative process of composing the songs and writing the dialogues, the students themselves decorated the stage for the performance. They literally collected mountains of waste from the neighborhood and carefully arranged it on the scene. The result was just impressive: something as ugly as plastic waste suddenly became a piece of art. “We wanted to create the feeling that the world has gone too far and there is nothing left but plastic”, says Henrik Årdal, the director of the performance.

Polymer tells the story of a group of people who try to fight the evil forces in a world which has been completely destroyed and turned to a pile of rubbish. The aim is to make the audience realize how humanity is mistreating the planet and how the current plastic consumption can compromise the future of our environment. “My goal is to make people feel bad about throwing away plastic and to be aware about what each of us individually are doing to our planet” says Nora Ramsrud, the main character of the musical.

The musical has been showcased for more than 400 people and the organization is planning to tour it out of the school. “It has been hard work but we really enjoyed it and we are happy we have contributed to raise awareness about the responsibility we all have as individuals to preserve our environment”, concludes Henrik Årdal.

Article written by Marcos Doespiritusanto