Name: Introduction to the Verge
Start: 2026-06-15T18:45:00+02:00
End: 2026-06-15T19:15:00+02:00
Location: KODE 2

Professor and visual artist Perry McPartland offers an introduction to The Verge at Stenersen on 15 and 16 June. Through perspectives on modernism, identity, and gender, he will explore how the play continues to challenge and resonate with contemporary audiences.
Ahead of the performances, we invite audiences to an introductory talk at 18:45 in the foyer at Stenersen. The talk lasts approximately 30 minutes and is free of charge, but due to limited capacity, guests must reserve a free ticket via the link to secure a seat.
McPartland will explore how Susan Glaspell’s play (1921) might be repositioned within the modernist canon through a re-evaluation of its formal experimentation, psychological intensity, and radical treatment of identity and subjectivity. The talk will also consider how the play speaks to evolving ideas of gender and selfhood in the century since its premiere, and how these themes are brought together in the current production through staging, performance, and design.
The Verge challenges patriarchal ideas of language, identity, and femininity through its experimental portrayal of female subjectivity. Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s theory of the semiotic and symbolic order, the talk would examine Claire Archer’s rebellion against domestic and social constraints as a radical search for new forms of expression and existence beyond inherited structures.
Perry McPartland is Professor of Literature and Linguistics at HVL Sogndal and also works as a visual artist. His academic writing has focused primarily on Shakespeare’s drama, often exploring its connections to the visual arts, as well as twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature and philosophy.