Oskar Seeman calls parenthood a hard survival period filled with love

Becoming a father to twins has brought actor Oskar Seeman a demanding period of exhaustion as well as much more love, he said on the ERR programme Hommik Anuga.

Seeman, whose twins Lucas and Rosanna are two and a half, said he had been looking forward to Father’s Day more than his birthday. He created a solo show about fatherhood to better understand himself and his experience as a father, drawing on theatre, the art form he knows best.

In reflecting on parenthood, Seeman said he had noticed how children pick up behaviours their parents may not intend to teach. He recalled his son bringing him a can of beer on a hot summer day and saying it was his favourite.

Seeman said the solo show was the most personal work he had performed on stage. He is trying to understand his feelings of guilt and longing, and the ways he has inherited his father’s habit of keeping quiet. He described his father as devoted and caring, but often distant, and said he now behaves in a similar way.

The twins’ arrival also tested Seeman’s relationship. He said that living in a state of constant exhaustion for a year or two can change people, make conflict more likely and lead them to take one another for granted.

Fatherhood has also given him what he called “superpowers”: he can tell whether silence in another room is good or bad. He said he had gained a great deal of patience and love.