Welcome to the preview of Overture — a visceral performance by Abjectified Project, where theater, dance and abject drag art come together to create a fusion of queer performance!

This work embraces disgust, fear, and fascination to challenge the ideas of beauty, normality and what the queer body represents. The abject plays on emotions such as repulsion, shock, fear, disgust and nausea, and problematizes what is associated with beauty versus what is considered ugly. With heritage from alternative drag tradition, horror films, abject art and affect theory, queer bodies are highlighted in a universe where the goal is to take control of what many in society still consider repulsive to this day: being queer.

Abjectified Projectis a newly started drag art company consisting of performers with backgrounds in drag, performing arts and a shared love of repulsive aesthetics. The performance is based on a series of drag performances from 2023–25. With this project, Abjectified is lifted out of the ‘drag cabaret format’ and into the performing arts and a more complete dramaturgy. Performers are Åshild Livsdatter Brinchmann Løvvig, Peter David Ramthun, Sofie Bøttger Bratberg and Jens Martin Arvesen Welde-Hartvedt. Dramaturg and external observer is Katinka Steensgaard. Tine Semb with Karmaklubb* is co-producer and coordinator of the project. All involved have different professional backgrounds: dance, acting and theater, film theory, nursing and medical studies, screenwriting, pedagogy and linguistics — disciplines that are brought into the work in different ways to inspire and generate ideas, as well as create their own interpretation and theory around the abject as an aesthetic and performative tool in interaction with the performers’ practice within queer art and drag. In addition, other guest artists are invited. There will be a mixture of performance material from Abjectified and line-up acts from our respective invited artists. *** SAVE THE DATE: 21 OCTOBER 2026! ***

Location: Centralteatret / Oslo Nye Teater, Akersgata 38, Oslo. : More info coming. ID: 18.

Credits: Photo by Benjamin Schindler / HELLERAU, April 2026.