– Let’s get curious!

Meet Mohammed Ellyas Lehry, ØIT’s new aspirant

– I wish for more intentional acts of togetherness, says ØITs new aspirant, Mohammed Ellyas Lehry.

Østfold International Theatre has engaged Lehry as an aspirant from January until December 2025. Lehry has a master’s degree in performance from the Academy of Performing Arts and several years of experience as a performing artist in India. He will take part in the daily operations of the theatre as well as develop his own projects. We asked him to share some of his thoughts on the coming year and on the Norwegian arts scene.

– A fantastic opportunity

Congratulations on your aspirant position! What does this opportunity mean to you, both as an artist and as a person?

– Thank you! I believe this is a fantastic opportunity for a newly graduated artist such as myself to get a bit of a kickstart to a career in the arts in Norway. For me, this is an opportunity to explore and understand the inner workings of an international theatre such as ØIT and to understand the processes that take place for its functioning. The goal is to demystify some of these processes of production and  to apply these rather immediate learnings to my artistic processes. It is no secret that I come from a very different culture and ecosystem of the arts, so the hope is that as I am learning from these new processes, that the theatre also leverages my presence here as an international artist to learn about and adopt some practices. I am looking forward to this year!

Better understandings

– Can you tell us a bit about your background as an artist – and how you have developed your style and technique?

– My background in the arts is a mix of traditional text-based proscenium style theatre, street theatre and ensemble style for which I have trained predominantly in India In addition I borrow from performance art, documentary theatre, autoethnography and action-based art which I have trained in Norway. Most recently, I have been working with memory as a source of performance. I draw upon my lived experiences, personal and communal histories to create narrative based performances. I would say that my style is dictated by some of the ethos of my work which is based in the anti-caste, anti-colonial and feminist performance practice. Therefore, my performance practice is situated in dialogue and interaction. Perhaps, most importantly, the intention of my work is to lead us to have better understandings of one another and create an atmosphere of mutual respect and curiosity.  

Theatre as a rehearsal of life

– How did you first become interested in theatre, and what inspired you to choose this art form as your mode of expression?

– I was born in the age of information, screens, media and the internet. The majority of my friendships and relationships to the world are mediated through these technologies. After being introduced to the theatre as a communication enhancing exercise in my school years, I think that  my interest developed steadily in this ‘different’ form of communication or expression simply because of how different it was.

The more performances that I did, the more I started to cherish these physical, analogue and almost ‘boring’ interactions. I think that’s why I stuck to it. Perhaps, the reason to continue with this is that it represents something to me which is the ability to be in and share and negotiate space with others. I enjoy the tactility and the mundaneness of it. I imagine as almost a ‘rehearsal’ for how we choose to be with one another.

Acts of togetherness

– What do you see as the biggest differences between theatre life in India and in Norway?
Could you share your “outside eye”-take on the Norwegian performing arts scene?

– As an outside eye, I see that there is a very vast support system that facilitates the art creation process from the state. Whereas in India, art tends to be supported more by private funders or is self-funded in most cases. There is also a focus on the funded artistic research in Norway which allows artists to take bigger and more speculative risks without the fear of financial ruin. This has allowed me to witness some very unique and interesting works of art in Norway.

But, at the same time, the Norwegian Theatre Academy, the reason for my presence in this country, which has been a powerhouse in the producing critically thinking, articulate and fantastic artists through their academic and Phd programmes, that support the entire system, has been shut down, the culture budgets are facing cuts nationally, so it is starting to feel a bit more dystopian than when I arrived two and a half years ago. I enjoy being here and working to be part of this community. Given how individualistic and isolating an experience it is to live here, I wish for more public spending on art which gives more opportunities for strangers to come together and become friends, I wish for more intentional acts of togetherness.

Bringing hidden stories to the front

– Are there specific themes or stories that you would like to explore in your work as an artist? How will you use the performing arts to convey them?

– I work with the themes of memory and personal histories. When I look around, I  see different kinds of people around me with their own very specific, intricate and special lives. I wish to hear these stories and see them on stage. There has been a very specific kind of story that has found the stage again and again, and I wish to use my knowledge and expertise in these areas – working with memory and personal histories – to bring out some of these stories to the front stage. I hope to facilitate spaces, artistic workshops and laboratories and invite the unrepresented and hidden histories to be front and centre, through my performance and pedagogical work in collaboration with these people themselves.

– What are your ambitions for the future? How do you hope this experience at the theatre will affect your artistic development, and what projects are you looking forward to working on?

– Ultimately, I want to develop a practice for myself that is contributive to the society which I inhabit. For me, that represents sharing my knowledge with folks that wish to tell stories of their own and have not had the opportunities or luxuries to do so in the past. I include myself in this, and wish to tell my own stories which I have not been able to in the past. I am hoping perhaps for research positions, long and short-term projects to explore this mission of mine.

– Let’s get curious!

–My experience at Østfold Internasjonale Theatre, which has a solid focus on being interactive with the public in public spaces, will hopefully allow me to gain some insight into how I can get started on this journey.

The projects that I am most looking forward to working on, are the ones that centre around the formations and sharing of identities. I want to make an interactive performance with actors about ‘muslimness’ which has been my interest area in the last two years. I want to make installations that allow people to reflect and remember, with one coming soon called ‘memory machine’ at Kunstfest Volume 6. Also, I want to explore different modalities for the stories that are constantly visiting my present conscience! I am looking forward to working on these. Let’s get curious once again!