Project Belle Gunness

1 The play Alias Belle Gunness – a serial killer from Selbu

Do we need the female serial killer in order to get rid of the myth of «Woman»? Do creativity have anything to do with the capacity for (serial)murder? And what would happen if Belle Gunness was to appear on Oprah Winfrey? All of these questions are represented in the play Alias Belle Gunness - a serial killer from Selbu.

Alias Belle Gunness was first put on stage at The Theatre of Cruelty in Oslo, from October 29th till November the 1st, 2009. During the play Belle Gunness tells her story through monologues and songs, in a mode of playing « cat and mouse» with the audience. This main storyline is mixed with a parallel storyline, concerned with the historical construction of Woman and the female offender. The idea embodied in the play takes its departure in the claim «There is no female Mozart, beacuse there is no female Jack the Ripper», which was proposed by the American cultural critic Camille Paglia in her groundbreaking book Sexual personae. Art and decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990).

In its original form, the play is written and performed by Anne Lorentzen in the company of four additional musicians. It lasts for 90 minutes and consists of music, monologues and video art made by video animator Nina Bergström and designer Malin Redvall.

Currently, the play is being rewritten into a music theatre by stage director Marit Selfjord for The Culture School of Selbu and Granby Gård. The music theatre version of the play is scheduled to March 19th 2011 (premiere).
Lorentzens original manuscript is available in English or Norwegian at Dramadirekt.com.

A mail order bride column from Anne Lorentzen on Vimeo.

2 The CD Alias Belle (2009)

Alias Belle (2009) contains 11 murder ballads written from the viewpoint of Belle Gunness. The album was recorded during one week in august 2009, with contributions from some of Norways most prominent studio musicians; Erland Dahlen (Madrugada), Bjørn Charles Dreyer (Beady Belle, Bertine Zetlitz) and Espen Gundersen. It was mixed by Lars Voldsdal (Madrugada, Turbonegro). Most of the songs are in Norwegian, two of them in English.
The album received great critics and is available as streaming, downloads and as CD.
A complete english speaking album is under planning.

Links for download: musikkonline.no, platekompaniet.no
Links to purchase of CD: platekompaniet.no
Links for streaming: www.wimp.no, www.spotify.com

Album reviews:
«Incredible successful Alias Belle»
Just like Nick Cave, presenting the murder story «Where the Wild Roses Grow» in the form of a beautiful ballad, Lorentzens choice of form is subdued in its expression. Great organic melodies with references to country as well as electronic music, Tom Waits, cabaret and Madrugada, creates an almost alarmingly strong experience when you know the cruelty hidden within the stories. Bjørn Tore Brøske, Bergensavisen, November 4th, 2009

«Practically spellbound»
The history of Belle Gunness is at the same time both eery and fascinating, and Lorentzen shows herself as a storyteller with a taste for good songs and suggestive details in both lyrics and music. At the same time she is able to situate the story within a broader and universal context, in itself an achievement. However, it takes a while before the nerve materializes. This happens about halfway, when the action, which is presented chronologically, becomes critical. And when the Cohen-like «The smile of an Angel» makes you shiver, you are practically spellbound. Hanne Farestvedt, Bergens Tidende, November 4th, 2009

3 The music video «The smile of an angel»

«The smile of an angel» is one of 11 murder ballads on the album Alias Belle (2009). The song (as well as the music video) is written from the perspective of George Anderson, perhaps the only suitor who actually survived a visit on Gunness's «Murder farm». According to the biographer Lucy Shepherd, Anderson survived because he was a light sleeper. Waking up in the middle of the night, realizing to his horror that Belle Gunness was inspecting him with a candle in her hand, Anderson managed to escape in the tumults that followed.

The music video «The smile of an angel» is a collaborative project between Anne Lorentzen and the pin up performance band «The Hungry Hearts».

Lorentzen and The Hungry Hearts have different perceptions as to how the film is to be interpreted: Lorentzen think about it as a reflection on early criminology in which Woman in general, and Gunness more specific, is constructed as inherently evil, degenerated and children-like. For The Hungry Hearts it is a surrealistic statement in a suggestive form, as well as a reflection on perception itself. Or as they themselves describe it: «We see what we choose to see». The female body and the ability of Gunness to seduce and outsmart her victims is central to their interpretation of the Gunness figure.

The Smile of an Angel from Anne Lorentzen on Vimeo.

4 The journal article «On the performativity of murder. The female offender revisited»

Do we need the female serial killer in order to get rid of the myth of «Woman»? How may media representations change the way we think about women? This is the theme for the article «On the performativity of murder. The female offender revisited», published in the journal NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, Vol. 18, No. 4, 246–265, published in November 2010. You may read the abstract below, or access the complete text online.

You find NORA here
Click «Subscribe online», and then «Issues list».
Look up Volume : Vol. 18, No. 4, pages 246–265
Author name: Anne H Lorentzen

Complete abstract:
The deconstruction of Woman came onto the feminist agenda in the wake of deconstruction and the move away from a universal, unified, and stable Cartesian subject. Is it possible that a female serial killer emigrating from a rural area of Norway in the early 1880s might contribute to this endeavour? Do we, in fact, need the female serial killer in order to transgress the very idea of Woman? In this article I discuss how violence and murder have been used to construct gender and to uphold the idea of Woman as inherently lacking, but also how murder may be applied to counter such ideas; by way of theory, but also by way of staged performance. It takes its point of departure in the ideas behind the play Alias Belle Gunness—A Serial Killer from Selbu, written by the author as a critique of the biological determinism of Camille Paglia, for whom transgressive action is a priori male, and (male) sexuality the dynamic principle behind culture (Paglia & Synnevåg 2000). I propose that adequate theory about human subjectivity is crucial in order to defeat biological determinism and the idea of Woman, but perhaps not enough, as we may also have to intervene in the cultural imaginary. Different writing methodologies and different formats, such as the concert or the play, may also contribute with new theory and knowledge.

Contact info: post at bellegunness.no See also www.annelorentzen.no