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Norway’s biggest political drama in years has a high-powered cast of characters, but started last fall on the stage of a small theater company (Black Box teater) in Oslo. It climaxed just before the weekend, with Prime Minister Erna Solberg probably having to appoint her sixth justice minister in as many years.

Solberg herself said she was “shocked” when word came late last week that Justice Minister Tor Mikkel Wara’s domestic partner of 24 years, Laila Anita Bertheussen, had been arrested and charged with fabricating at least the latest of alleged threats against the justice minister and his family, including herself.
After the fifth act of vandalism and arson against Wara’s home erupted last weekend, when he was away for the football weekend in the UK, he won bipartisan support from colleagues who bemoaned how difficult it’s become to be a politician in the public spotlight. They were joined by Prime Minister Solberg, who has later caught lots of criticism herself for criticizing the theater for making politicians’ lives harder, and exposing their families as well.
When Bertheussen was charged late last week, Solberg was immediately asked to apologize to all those involved with the play, several of whom had been threatened themselves. When Solberg refused to do so, she was also blasted by other, more mainstream cultural and theatrical officials, including the head of the National Theater in Oslo.

It remained unclear, meanwhile, whether Wara can ever return as justice minister.