THE THEATRE The City of Bergen occupies a prominent position in the history of dramatic art in Norway. It was here that the first theatre, the old Comedy House, was built in 1799. It was also in Bergen that Ole Bull, the famous violinist, founded Den Nationa! Scene in 1850. In this old theatre Henrik Ibsen, as the young manager, presented his first play «Gildet pua Solhaug>. In the Capital, then called Christiania, the first public theatre (Christiania Theater) was opened in 1837. In the initial period of theatrical history in Norway the management was in the hands of Danish and, to some extent, Swedish players. However, Henrik Wergeland, and at a later date Ole Bull and Bjgrnstjerne Bjgrn- son, set about opposing the Danish actors and demanded the use of the Norwegian language on the Norwegian stage. This struggle was neither severe nor long. Norwegian actors were trained to an efficiency equalling that of the foreign play- ers, and the great dramatists, Ibsen, Bjgrnson and Jonas Lie, produced plays which raised the whole level of the national theatre to a premier position. 70