Eilert Løvborg

Director Barthold Halle reminded the ensemble of what Ibsen lets Professor Rubek say in the play When We Dead Awaken: "On the surface I give them the'striking likeness', as they call it, that they all stand and gape at in astonishment - but at bottom they are all respectable, pompous horse-faces, and self-opinionated donkey-muzzles, and lop-eared, low-browed dog-skulls, and fatted swine-snouts - and sometimes dull, brutal bull-fronts as well."

Text fragment from the playbill for Hedda Gabler, by Barthold Halle. 

The quote was to become a guideline for the interpretation of the characters, and as such Eilert Løvborg, with his oversized self-image, became a lion, or "the king of the animals", according to Anne M. Helgesen (2003:373). 

The role of Eilert Løvborg was played by Stein Kiran.

Sceneweb refers to the other puppets registered from the production. These are: Hedda Tesman (Gabler), Jørgen Tesman AKA George Tesman, Brack, Mrs. Elvsted and Miss Juliane Tesman.

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. 

Wang, Ragnhild and Vibeke Helgesen: Den magiske hånd. Dukkespill og figurteater gjennom tidene (literally: The magic hand. Puppetry throughout the ages). Pax forlag, Oslo 2000: (321).

Donated by: Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre). Knut Wiulsrød.

Transported 01.07.2020.

The head of Eilert Løvborg was likely cut from Styrofoam, after which facial traits were shaped from textiles such as cotton gauze and possibly also glove skin. It is interesting to see how the puppet designer used textiles to add character to the face, for instance through bags beneath the eyes and a nose with a bend.

The area around the chin may be kept closed, but it can also hang loose, creating shivering and comical effects. Løvborg had the same kind of hair as Hedda, thick, filled textile strips (sausage-like), possibly associated with a lion's head of hair. All in all, Løvborg's long face shared many traits with a lion's face.

Løvborg was clad in a long cape with a wide collar standing up. Beneath the cape, he wore a vest with frontal pieces in different colours (rusty red and brown). His pants were beige, and his shoes were the same colour as the cape, greyish green. Løvborg had a bohemian character.

At the back of its head, the puppet Eilert Løvborg had a handle to be held and steered by. There was also a handle at his behind, so that the puppeteer could easily control the movements of the body.

The puppeteer held the puppet in front of his own body, using both his hands to steer the puppet. This technique is referred to as part of the category Bunraku-inspired theatre puppet. The puppet had a wide range of movement in his head, there were joints at its pelvis, and from the hips the legs hung more or less loose. The Løvborg puppet had a large dramatic and physical movement expression.

In an interview done by Vibeke Helgesen, Lisbeth Narud says that she is first and foremost a stage designer. "I don't really care to make 'just' the puppets: What I am searching for is a complete vision, and primarily, I have little interest in working from others' drawings!"

In the same interview, Narud says: "I use a great deal of time in finding the visual 'key' to a production, and I never stop asking myself 'WHY?'. My problem is that I must try to transform the spoken world into a visual world. Even if the production in question is to operate without words, there will always be a subtext one relates to - one SHALL relate to!" 

SOURCE:

Helgesen, Vibeke: Førstemann ut blant de norske scenografer (literally: The first among the Norwegian stage designers), from Ånd i hanske, issue no. 1, 1996:6.