Borghild Otelie Aasebøstøl // How to Build a Castle

Stories for the little ones and storytelling performance in the Adventure Hall, Friday, August 7th

Narrator

Borghild (b. 1991) is from Ulsvåg on Hamarøy, and lives in Oslo. She is a traveling storyteller with a love for personal stories and northern Norwegian fairy tales.

Aasebøstøl is a qualified associate professor in drama and theatre communication, and works as an associate professor in theatre and drama at Volda University College, where she teaches narrative theatre, among other things.

During HamsundageneUNG you will be able to experience the performance How to Build a Castle which had its premiere at the Storytelling Festival in March 2026. She also stands for "Three things I think are scary": Stories for the little ones.

Photo: Lars Opstad / Oslo New Theatre

How to build a castle with Borghild O. Aasebøstøl & Cornelius Borger Østlie

Photo: Halvard Haga

Friday 7 August at 16.30 - 17.30 in the Æventysalen at The Hamsun Centre

"Because it's not me who's sick!"

The storytelling performance How to Build a Castle takes the audience on a journey through childhood memories, reality and a fantasy realm that emerges when words are not enough. We follow thirteen-year-old Borghild, who lives close to a sister with a mental illness. In the shadows of what is happening, Borghild feels a responsibility that feels too great – as if she must keep watch, build walls and find hiding places, while anger, shame and the desire to become invisible go hand in hand with taking up space.

With playful seriousness and wonder, the performance explores what it means to build protection against a battle when the fight is already underway, and when imagination and literature become a place to breathe, hide and survive.

With her on stage is her string instrumentalist and husband Cornelius Borger Østlie.

Borghild Otelie Aasebøstøl - narrator
Cornelius Borger Østlie - musician
Nina Terese Håland - playwright

The performance is supported by Dramatikkens hus, Oslo Theatre Center and Nordland County Council.