Momo AKA The Grey Gentlemen

Momo AKA The Grey Gentlemen (1983) was a puppetry production by Klomadu Theatre. The production was a fairytale thriller with people, puppets and silhouettes, loosely based on the novel by Michael Ende. This was Klomadu Theatre's first production.

Helge Reistad directed it.

Information

(Objekt ID 29130)
Object type Production
Premiere September 30, 1983
Produced by Klomadu Theatre
Based on Momo AKA The Grey Gentlemen by Michael Ende
Audience Children (from 7 to 107)
Language Norwegian
Keywords Performance for children, Puppetry, Theatre, Fairytale, Thriller
Running period September 30, 1983  
Duration One hour

Requirements to venue

Minimum stage width 6m
Minimum stage depth 4m
Minimum stage height 3m
More

In The Performing Arts Hub Norway sales catalogue for 1984 the following, among other things, is written about Momo AKA The Grey Gentlemen:

"The production is about the understanding of time – time as a resource, two ways o fusing time. Momo and Gigi are friends. They lead lives where time consists of experiences in the moment, and every moment is as long as the experience demands. They play and tell each other fairytales, filled with imagination and the joy of creation. They say: 'Time is life, and life lives in the hearts'.

But then they meet the grey gentlemen, agents in the bank of time. These time thieves convince everyone that they should save their time, banking it. They live off this stolen dead time. To be included in the system of the grey gentlemen, people must work efficiently and forget about the merry imaginative life. 'Saved time is double time.'

Gigi is caught by the thought of saving time, and leaves Momo. In her fight with the grey gentlemen to have Gigi back, she meets the master of time. With his help, Momo manages to free the stolen time and to return it to the people."

SOURCES:

Performing Arts Hub Norway, The Performing Arts Hub Norway sales catalogue 1983, 01.10.2013

Performing Arts Hub Norway, The Performing Arts Hub Norway sales catalogue 1984, 04.10.2013

Performing Arts Hub Norway, The Performing Arts Hub Norway sales catalogue 1985, 14.10.2013

Helge Reistad's private archive, donated by Helge Reistad, 27.09.2015

Helge Reistad, performance program digitised by Sceneweb, 14.03.2016

Contributors (17)
Name Role
Michael Ende – Author
Nina Engelund – Dramatised by
Andreas Jaggi – Dramatised by
Nina Engelund – Concept/Idea
Andreas Jaggi – Concept/Idea
Helge Reistad – Direction
Nina Engelund – Stage design
Andreas Jaggi – Stage design
Jørn Kolsrud – Sound
Nina Engelund – Light
Andreas Jaggi – Light
Nina Engelund – Actor (Momo)
Andreas Jaggi – Actor (Gigi)
Jørn Kolsrud – Voiceover
Nina Engelund – Puppet maker
Andreas Jaggi – Puppet maker
Helge Reistad – Consultant
Performance dates
February 14, 1985Asker samfunnshus (Askerfestivalen) Show
Navember 26, 1983Elverum Folkehøgskole Show
September 30, 1983Festiviteten kino National premiere, Norway
Festivals (1)
Askerfestivalen February 14, 1985
Press coverage

Annlaug Vik Nilsson, Vellykket premiere på Klomadu-teatret (literally: Successful premiere at Klomadu Theatre), 01.10.1983, Hamar Arbeiderblad [Hamar]:
"The actors managed to make a capturing performance with no weak points, with puppets, silhouettes, colours and sound effects. The audience was kept breathless and with no time to get bored. [...] That there is a need for such a theatre in Hamar, is proven by a near filled auditorium."

Roald Bruen Olsen, Spennende barneteater (literally: Exciting theatre for children), 01.10.1983, Hamar Dagblad [Hamar]
"Klomadu Theatre's entrance at the Hamar stage is a fresh breath in local cultural life. [...] Must they be allowed to continue."

Kirsti Grotmol, Tidstyver på tokt (literally: Time thieves on the prowl), 11.11.1983, Klassekampen [Oslo]: 
"The play combines old fairytales with more modern fairytales. Momo and Gigi wander through several epochs in search of each other and themselves. Time only exists in the moment, and they can freely travel between the periods."

Writer unknown, 07.11.1983, Arbeiderbladet [Oslo]:
"The buddies Momo and Gigi lead a life in which the time consists of experiences in the moment. They meet the time thieves who want to steal time from them. Gigi learns how to save time in the time bank. He is captured by the thieves' thoughts of saving: Saved time is double time. When Gigi runs out of time, Momo tries to get him back. And she succeeds. No fairytale ends terrible. [...] In other words, the piece is filled with excitement, imagination and an hour of entertainment for young and older children. But they shouldn't be too young. The excitement can be too much to bear for the sensitive. From nine years and up should be more appropriate."

Roger Avenstrup, 30.11.1983, Østlendingen:
"Technically, the acting is at the level of what our only permanent puppetry theatre can offer, Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)'s puppetry division. The audience was moved, big ones and small ones, by the intimate and moving such as Nina Engelund with a turtle in the hook of her arm, and the nightmarish with the time thieves, and the beautiful with time in human hearts, like flowers and birds in striking colours."