Kongen på haugen* (King of the Hill)
Kongen på haugen* (King of the Hill) is a puppetry production by Levende Dukker.
*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.
Information
(Objekt ID 25952)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | 2008 |
| Produced by | Levende Dukker |
| Audience | Children (from 6 to 100) |
| Language | Norwegian |
| Keywords | Performance for children, Puppetry |
| Running period | 2008 |
| Duration | 45 minutes |
| Website | Levende Dukker |
Requirements to venue
| Minimum stage width | 6m |
| Maximum stage width | 5m |
| Minimum stage height | 3m |
| Blackout | No |
| Audience | 150 |
On the webpage of Levende Dukker the following is written about Kongen på haugen* (King of the Hill):
"The knight Rein is addicted to games. He is actually in the middle of a game: Kongen på haugen. But he's hard pressed. Knut and Espen have forgotten to save, you see. And Nils doesn't even know the rules, so this is a crisis, HEEEEEELP! Help is near, from an unexpected direction. A frog, a jolly nice frog.
And then the game is on again, commented by our rhyming narrator: Ranglebein, who pops up like a jack in the box, with regular intervals.
The knight Rein meets several difficulties. A flighty magpie stealing things and messing with the game. Suddenly Rein is broke - not too unusual in a game… But luck may happen. Things work out with a bit of credit.
Rein comes across plenty of weird stuff along the way. He falls in love with a goooooooorgeous girl – who isn't so gorgeous after all. She becomes a monster, literally, and it ends with a fight of life and death.
Here Espen and Nils play so hard sticks fly around them, while puppeteer Knut seems to have four arms. May the best man win.
He does - fortunately.
Eventually the knight Rein is about to reach the top and become KING OF THE HILL (the highest level of the game). But then, and of course just then, he can hear a weak cry for help. What will our young hero do?
The musical expression is varied. It ranges from melodic themes - with and without singing, to improvised free music. Even though we move within many different genres, our anchor in jazz music will shine clearly through.
Nils Jansen's arsenal of woodwind instruments ranges over flutes, clarinets and saxophones. For instance he plays the sopranino saxophone, contra-alto clarinet and bass saxophone. Espen Rud contributes drum kits and other percussion instruments. In this way we want to examine new connections between material, shape and sound – connections between the audio expression and the visual expression."
Source:
Levende Dukker, levendedukker.no, 02.01.2012, http://www.levendedukker.com/kongenpaahaugen/
*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Knut Alfsen | – Concept/Idea |
| Elisabeth Grønning | – Concept/Idea |
| Espen Rud | – Concept/Idea |
| Agnes Mowbray Schou | – Concept/Idea |
| Elisabeth Grønning | – Direction |
| Espen Rud | – Music |
| Knut Alfsen | – Stage design |
| Agnes Mowbray Schou | – Puppetry Design |
| Knut Alfsen | – Puppeteer |
| Nils Jansen | – Musician |
| Espen Rud | – Musician |
| Agnes Mowbray Schou | – Puppet maker |
| 2008 | Worldwide premiere |
Marianne Vinje in Asker og Bærums Budstikke, 20.10.2008:
"- We try to keep up with our times and have made a production targeted towards school children, but it seemed to interest the younger ones, too, Alfsen said after finishing the performance. At the time some 40 kids had sat silent as mice for 40 minutes, with their eyes wide open, petrified as they saw the beautiful princess be transformed into a monster."