Trinculo

Trinculo was played by Marianne Edvardsen. She also played the role of Moranda.

Sceneweb refers to the other puppets registered from the production. These are Miranda and Alonso, the king of Naples. 

SOURCES:

Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre). Playbill from the production The Tempest. 

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

Transported 07.08.2020.

Trinculo's head was likely cut from Styrofoam and fortified with silk paper and glue, after which it was painted. In this case, the use of silk paper and glue not only fortified the surface of the face, but also gave it character through wrinkles. A synthetic head of hair was put on top of the round head, with high cheekbones and a sunken area around the mouth.

Not much of the puppet's costume is visible in the photo. What is visible indicates that it was simple and made from cotton or linen, a coarser type of fabric.

The hands, made from bendable metal material and covered with a rubber material, could grab hold of the bottle, of which Trinculo was fond.

Trinculo was constructed with a handle fastened to the back of his head. This was what the puppeteer held on to and steered the puppet by. He also had a joint between his neck and his shoulders, so that the head could be moved in different directions. His body was likely clad in a simple costume fastened to his head/neck, and hanging in front of the puppeteer's body.

His hand and his fingers were made of bendable metal string, covered with a rubber material. There was likely a steering rod fastened to the puppet's elbows.

To a large degree, the puppeteer held the puppet in front of her own body, and thus she was partly hidden from the audience. This construction also allows the puppeteer to be visible with the puppet.

Trinculo is categorised as a Bunraku-inspired puppet. Bunraku is the name of traditional Japanese puppetry. (For more information on Bunraku, you may have a look at and read about the puppet Yukiko).

In the playbill, the head of the theatre, Kjetil Bang-Hansen, wrote the following:

"The Tempest is likely Shakespeare's last play. His farewell to the theatre. The wizard breaks his wand, leaves the stage and withdraws, to reality.

It is a play filled with poetry, melancholy, cruelty and magic. And if there is a Shakespeare play suitable for puppetry, this must be it. On Prospero's island (Prospero is a wizard and the legitimate duke of Milan, Sceneweb's comment), air spirits and earthly spirits live side by side. Here are humans in all the puppets."

Barthold Halle wrote the following in the playbill:

"We have thought of Prospero as a kind of self-portrait, and Prospero's island is the theatre. The bard looks back at themes he has been through at an earlier time: The destructive effect of power on the one in power, the ever-new possibilities of pure love, the humour and force and dirt among common people. It is as if he says: 'I know all about this, I know my art and I am rightly famous, but in the perspective of eternity, this is strangely insignificant'. 

We perform The Tempest with puppets, and it fits our reading of the play. The puppets really come into being the moment they are put in motion, used by their lord and master."