Norma, or A Politician's Love (Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

:Norma eller En Politikers Kjærlighed) is a drama written as an opera parody by Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

. It is influenced by Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...

's opera Norma

Norma (opera)

Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...

, which Ibsen saw in 1851, but the role figures are central contemporary politicians. The play was first printed anonymously in the satirical magazine Andhrimner

Andhrimner

Andhrimner was a literary and satirical weekly magazine, issued from January to September 1851 in Kristiania, Norway.It was established in 1851, as Manden , but was later renamed after Andhrímnir of Norse mythology. Its editors were Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Henrik Ibsen and Paul Botten-Hansen...

in 1851. The first book edition came in 1909. The first performance of the play was at a student theatre in Trondheim 1994.

List of characters

• Norma
• Adalgisa
• Severus
• Ariovist
• Norma and Severus' two sons
• Druides (chorus)
• Druidines (chorus)