Club 7 was a cultural club in Oslo, Norway, active from 1963 to 1985. It was regarded a centre for counterculture in Norway in the 1960s through the 1970s. There was a wide tolerance for alternative lifestyles, including homosexuality.[1]
History
Club 7 was established in 1963 by Attila Horvath and Odd Schou.[2] The first meeting took place at Kafé René at Lilletorget, Oslo.[3] Among the pioneers was also poet Kate Næss, who is credited for inventing the name of the club.[4] The name "Club 7" is supposed to mean the club should be "more than sex"[1] (the number 6 in Norwegian is pronounced like "sex"). The avant-garde theatre Stage 7 (Norwegian: Scene 7) was started in 1966, with Sossen Krohg as artistical director.[5][6] Other club activities were jazz concerts, poetry evenings, rock concerts, exhibitions, café and activities for children.[2] The club had various locations over years, including Drammensveien 64, the Edderkoppen Theatre, the restaurant Kongen near Frognerkilen, and the Oslo Concert Hall.[3] In the 1970s the club was located in Vika, in block D of Oslo Concert Hall,[3] where it covered an area of 1,400 square meters, and had an average number of 300 visitors per evening.[1] The club had its own library, gallery and newspaper. It hosted blues concerts, folk concerts and jazz concerts, movie shows and dance evenings.[3] The theatre staged experimental plays by playwrights such as Ionesco, Fo and Cocteau.[6] Among the theatre's greatest successes was a dance performance based on Gerd Brantenberg's novel Egalias døtre.[5]Jens Bjørneboe's play Tilfellet Torgersen (The Torgersen Case) premiered at Stage 7 on 25 January 1973.[7] The theatre also showed a series of children's plays written by Sossen Krohg, starting with Skinka Nøff og Grynta som ikke ville bli julebord in 1975.[6]
