Film “A conversation”

No Theatre was a non-profit community theatre group based in Oslo (Norway) with non-professional actors from all over the world, i.e. Norway, Spain, Germany, UK, Belgium and with a late director from the UK. They played ‘A Conversation’ for about 6 years, passionate about the subject of the play and inspired by its powerful effects on the audience. They hoped that their play could help influence the approach of the criminal justice system to reconciliation and ultimately that the power of dialogue is recognised as a key factor in facilitating reconciliation and forgiveness after a crime has been committed. For No Theatre the film of the theatre play is an important tribute to their director Peter Harris, who dedicated his artistic life, amongst other things, to the work with vulnerable groups of people. Peter sadly passed away in the Summer 2017, few months before the launch of the film.

"It was meant to be one single performance at an amateur theatre festival in Oslo after a one year of preparations. Our director, Peter Harris, took us through exercises and rehearsals to get in touch with feelings like guilt, anger, sadness and despair. Through these preparations the characters in the play were built, and  these preparations strongly influenced the way they appear in the theatre play".
Siw Risøy

John McDonald (Australia) is the CEO of ProActive ReSolutions, a conflict transformation business that works in over 30 countries. He is a practitioner and thought leader in the world of conflict transformation in justice and workplace settings. John facilitated the first Restorative Conferences in Australia in the Land and Environment Court over the destruction of sacred sites on Aboriginal Land by mining companies, has worked with clients in Norway, Denmark, England, Austria, Germany, Italy, China and North America and was the inspiration for the Jack Manning character in the David Williamson plays, ‘Face to Face’, ‘A Conversation’ and ‘Charitable Intent’ and for the Michael Rymer film of ‘Face to Face’.  

Siw Risøy (Norway) has an MA in art and design. She lives in Oslo and works as a counselor in high school. She has been an actor and a coordinator of the amateur theatre group “No Theatre” for about 6 years. Through the work with the theatre play “A Conversation” she was introduced to restorative justice and the power of dialogue to repair and create reconciliation even when really serious incidents have taken place. As a coordinator she has been dedicated to make this film of the play come through, and to participate in debates concerning the subject of restorative justice after the screening of the film, in Oslo, Leuven and Sassari.

Espen Marius Foss (Norway) has a Ph.D. on the topic of restorative practice in Norway. He has done research and practice in the field for 15 years in various contexts such as the Norwegian mediation service, mediation services in mosques, schools, prisons and communities. He was also leading the work on Street mediation in the Norwegian Red Cross for six years, and was part of training of trainers in Street mediation for Red Cross in Belize, Zimbabwe, Denmark and Lebanon. Espen was also a friend of Peter Harris and "No Theatre", and had the pleasure of working with them on several occasions.