TWO ENERGY-BEERS WITH MATHILDE JORDAL BREIVIK
TWO ENERGY-BEERS WITH MATHILDE JORDAL BREIVIK
Who is Mathilde Jordal Breivik? Is she fish? Is she bird? Is she kind? Is she dull drunk? That I don’t know, but that’s something Tun & Tree is about to find out.
PHOTO: THALE JENSEN HEVRØY
TEXT: MARTIN HANSEBRÅTEN
TRANSLATION: INGRID BJØRNEVIK NYGAARD
This interview actually began two weeks before it took place. In a piece of investigative journalism, Tuntreét tried to get to know Mathilde. That did not go so well. All we discovered from this undercover operation was that Mathilde believes the meaning of life is to die, and that “itslearning” was a relatively good school website. As well as her steeling my beer. Sad stuff. When we gave up investigative journalism, we invited her to the TT-office instead, and that resulted in a couple Energy-beers and a conversation about life.
Childhood, music education and Kris Kristoffersen. Tun & Tree always begins by asking about the core of each personality, Childhood. Mathilde didn’t reveal any traumas to share with the public, but talked about how since around 6th grade, she has dealt with stress about school, which didn’t ease off until she became a student.
Mathilde grew up in Stavanger, before moving to Årdal in Ryfylke. “It is the best of both worlds […] I have both City girl and Country, strong in my life”. She enjoyed living in a smaller community and had lots of friends, however she told us it wasn’t always an open mind. “When I moved there as the partially “City-girl” I am, it could crash a bit.”
She has always been very fond of music, and she reveals that she played classical trumpet for 13 years. After middle school, Mathilde moved back to Stavanger to live in a dorm. She ended up at Stavanger Cathedral School and chose music education. Mathilde mentions that, much to the frustration of others in her class, she really enjoys Country music, especially Dolly Parton and Kris Kristoffersen.
The reason why Mathilde took the bow out of her hair and ended up in Ås, was that she found a brochure with a pretty layout: “It was really aesthetically pleasing.” She elaborates on this by explaining how she applied to small communities, and that she comes from both a small middle school and high school. “There you can have a bit of an identity, and not just be a person in a crowd, but it’s probably mostly the brochure”, Mathilde explains. Surprisingly, Mathilde ended up studying Environmental Physics, after two gap years where she studied science subjects as a private student. “I wanted to study science, because I think it is fun, and also, one has to contribute to save the world”, she mentions.
Revue. Perhaps what Mathilde is most known for here in Ås, are revues. She explains that already in middle school she opened her eyes up for revues, with Bygderevyen. It was actually an adult-revue, and not intended for teenagers. “Either you did football, or you played the transverse flute”.
Mathilde became stage manager for the UKErevue in 2020. The coronavirus hit before the miniUKE, forcing a break for Mathilde. She went back home during this period, describing this time as “pretty chill”. She mentions that she had a pretty good social circle before corona, so it didn’t affect her too much. She returned to UKErevue in full vigour. Shortly after, she was selected as the Head of the Revue, leading the 2022 production titled “flip flop thumbs up”. UKA isn’t discussed much more than this, except that she points out that she actually got the most out of being Stage manager.
She hasn’t just been in UKA, she has also been in an IVAR-revue and describes the amount of penis and sex-humour as very fun to work with. Although she personally prefers to work with something bigger. She now spends a lot of time on high school revues: “I have been to maybe ten different school-revues this year.” She has a great joy watching these, even if she isn’t participating: “I’m just enthusiastic”. Mathilde says that the high school-revues are proper productions, that one should have great respect for. “You should worship them in the same way a show in the Norwegian Theater”.
Pikekoret IVAR. Just before the coronavirus hit, Mathilde joined pikekoret IVAR, where she didn’t have much experience before other responsibilities took over: “I was very active in the revue, and then corona hit, which didn’t help. You don’t get to know people over Teams […] Then I became the Head of the Revue and that meant even more leave.” She is very glad she got properly involved, because it turned out to be a very good group. “They are all some down to earth girls. I feel like they are very forgiving […] I am friends with everyone in IVAR.”
Anti-bigwig. Although Mathilde during the interview expresses her desire to be “Instagram-famous”, she struck me as surprisingly down to earth. She is truly the opposite of what the what one would expect from the representative at Samfunnet: “I certainly don’t want to be seen as a bigwig”. She also has strong opinions about some of the practices among those who are elected, “Rituals are cringey, and VIP weekends are awkward “, she says. Mathilde stands as a passionate antipamp – one that truly doesn’t do stuff for the sake of their CV or status.
Environment, knitting and Domestic Science. In an attempt to talk about other things than pamps, school, childhoods, and revue as most Two beers subjects do, we start talking about knitting. “I started knitting and sewing under the corona pandemics, then it escalated. I knit all that I can. I have knitted tank tops, I have knitted skirts, I have knitted shorts, sweater, tutus: all one can think of.”
As soon as clothes are mentioned, Mathilde starts to glow: “I am very passionate about clothes, and sustainable wardrobes.” Mathilde has always been interested in clothes, and now she actively works to have sustainable clothes, buying most of it used. “The fashion industry annoys me. I can’t stand fast fashion”, she says. She continues by saying that even though she’s very concerned about the fashion industry, she gladly drives home to the west coast and eats meat: “Living impacts the environment, so one can’t do anything with a clear conscience, but I have found my burning-cause [with clothes].”
She explains that she tries to eat sustainably; She tries to choose the most environmentally friendly options and eat locally produced food. She really enjoys making food and tells Tuntréet, «If domestic science schools existed today, then it would be the right place for me to be.” She says she’s good at baking lemon oven-baked chicken, risotto, and no-kneed bread. She recommends “Sultne gutter” for tips: “They have all my favourite things. Lots of butter, lots of parsley and lots of lemon.”
Odd stuff. Before the interview, a mutual friend, whom Tuntreet has chosen to call F. (This is not his real name; yes, I’ve used this joke before), warned that Mathilde could do very odd stuff, without wanting to explain this behaviour to the public. Confronted with this, Mathilde explains, “I feel like I don’t hold back enough. When I get too eager, I can get a bit too loud and overbearing. I’m odd, and I like to entertain.”
Who is Mathilde really? Some might say that Mathilde is that type of person to hold back 90% of the time, and in reality, she is odder than you might imagine, but I don’t think that’s the case. Mathilde is a human being that is herself to a tee, yet she remains down to earth, and she doesn’t put herself above others. So, it perhaps fits that her name is Jordal (Earth-al).
Currently, Mathilde is writing her Master thesis on carbon capturing. However, she’s unsure about what she wants to do afterwards. “Actually, I feel hypocritical. I have used so much time struggling through physics exams and searching for jobs in big office buildings with free lunch and gym facilities: but what I truly want is to work a bit like I did with the revue in 2020.” To work with arts is really the dream, she says.
GREETINGS:
Our dear Mathilde, our style-icon, handywoman, harshest critic, and friend.
Mathilde is, for those who don’t know her, a glamorous power woman with the ability to be honest, direct, and yet warm and inclusive, making her exceptionally unique. Additionally, she has a talent that ranges from sewing the most fantastic outfits, to make revue segments that makes us laugh until we cry. In other words, she is the whole package, inspiring those around her every single day.
We have never truly understood how you do this, Mathilde, but we suspect that much of it comes from an impressively strong attitude that anything is possible if you just try – and that shines through everything Mathilde is a part of.
We all look forward to watch how you tackle the world now that you are sadly about to leave the Ås-bubble. We will be enthusiastically following you, and we are looking forward to pleasant reunions!
Hugs&kisses, UKEstyret.
Mathilde is the queen. She drives a Mercedes, bakes delicious bread, and knits elegant clothes in all the colours of the rainbow. She owns more coats, than most people own socks, and she is so fashionable that even a trip to the grocery store is an opportunity to wear a sequin skirt. It was in fact Mathilde that set the trend to wear balaclavas in the friend group in 2020, and not Synneva that later took credit for it.
She is temperamental, and at times rude, but she has a big heart for only being 158 cm tall. She tells it like it is, she is fearless, yet startles like a puppy with PTSD.
If we were writing about you in our school diary in elementary school, we would write about how cool, kind, and funny you are.
Now that we are adults, we write about how cool, kind, and funny you are.
Thanks for letting us be in your lovely life. We love you.
Our beloved Mathilde Panarhea entered IVAR with confidence, extreme amounts of glamour and musical skills that keep blowing us away. There are few as stylish as you, and a compliment from you weighs more than 10 cakes together.
The fact that you are so steady and professional on the choir-bench, is just a small part of what you have to offer. Surely, there are only a few out there who would bother with a CrossFit-session at 07.30 A.M after a pre-party??? It usually goes at 110 km/h! Your commitment and honesty are something we value extreeeeemely highly. The outstanding energy of the revue-queen excites us on every occasion. Theatrical outbursts in all shapes and sizes gives a spark of life for both body, soul, and heart.
MATHILDE, WE LOVE YOU!
Greetings from your roommates on behalf of Pikekoret IVAR
