Santa's wife

Jul med Prøysen og Snekker Andersen* (Christmas with Prøysen and Carpenter Andersen) has become a classic at Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)'s puppet theatre. It has been performed near annually, most recently the Christmas of 2019. This will likely not be the last time for it. After the death of Christian Egemar, Per Horn took over the responsibility for the stage design, and developed it.

Stein Kiran was employed as a puppeteer at Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre) in 1984, at the same time as Per Skjølsvik. Kiran took over the artistic responsibility for the theatre's puppet theatre in 1994.

The role of Santa's wife was first played by Anne-Lise Ruud. In the photo, she is with her youngest child.

Sceneweb refers to the other puppets registered from the production. These are Santa's children, the mouse mother with children, and Carpenter Andersen.

SOURCES:

Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)

Helgesen, Anne M.: Animasjonen - Figurteatrets velsignelse og forbannelse. Norsk Figurteaterhistorie (literally: Animation - The blessing and curse of puppetry. Norwegian Puppetry History). Dr. Art. thesis in theatre theory, 2003, UiO. 

Donated by: Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)

Transported 27.05.2020.

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

The head of Santa's wife was cut from Styrofoam and fortified with cotton gauze and glue. After this, it was covered with thin glove leather. Santa's wife had a red hat and long braids. Her dress had pleats by the waist, and was sewn from cotton fabric. Her arms hung loose and followed the body's movements.

A round rod was fastened to the head of the puppet, to which the puppeteer could hold on, the only point to steer this puppet from. There were no rods through the arms; they hung loose. This form of rod puppet was (and is) a simple version. The puppet had feet which could be moved from small 'pockets' placed beneath the soles of the feet, fitting the puppeteer's fingers.

In an interview, Stein Kiran stated the following: "As the new artistic director at Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)'s puppet theatre, I see no reason to change our choice of repertoire significantly. A mix of old and new is right, in my opinion. As a nationally and municipally supported theatre, we should consider what the audiences want, and not just what we want. Of course, we are also to think anew, play new drama and be innovative, which I think we have made over the recent years." (A. M. Helgesen, 2003: 374).