The Lucky Ship

The Lucky Ship

– a war sailor story

by Jon Erik Myre and André Lassemo

World War II is in full swing. The Norwegian merchant fleet becomes a piece in a total war, and Norwegian sailors are suddenly in the middle of the heat, whether they want it or not. Our story begins when the news that the Germans have occupied Norway has just reached the crew. We follow the characters Ingvald and Oskar, two brothers-in-law who work on board the ship S/S Hestmanden. Their journey, the situations the ship and its crew end up in, and the return home, are presented through encounters between them, literally between battles.

The play is based on documents and interviews conducted by war sailors during World War II. The historical background to this piece, as well as the ships experiences, is based directly from sources taken from the Norwegian War Sailors Museum at the Vest-Agder Museum. The two main characters’ lives, experiences, and conversations with each other are fictional, but are inspired by interviews of former war sailors. The production is a collaborative project between the theatre company Kanon Produksjon and S/S Hestmanden – Norwegian War Sailor Museum at the Vest-Agder Museum, and will be played on board the ship S/S Hestmanden in September 2022.

Listen to the music on Spotify