Miss Juliane Tesman

"Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)'s puppet theatre had not staged productions for adults since The Changed Bridegroom (1966) under Birgit Strøm's management. The project of adapting a contemporary drama by Ibsen, connected to the whole heavy Norwegian realistic-psychological tradition, to puppetry, was initiated by the critic and playwright Bjørg Vindsetmo and Kjersti Germeten. They chose Barthold Halle as director and Lisbeth Narud as puppet maker. The four of them worked closely together on the direction concept for Ibsen's text, adapted by Vindsetmo, and on the visual expression, created by Narud."

Helgesen, Anne M. (2003:372).

The role of Juliane Tesman was played by Anne-Lise Ruud.

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

SOURCES:

Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre). Playbill.

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). Knut Wiulsrød.

Transported 05.07.2020.

Miss Juliane Tesman, also called Julle, was made from textiles of many varieties. She was such a homebody within the Tesman family, that the puppet was shaped like a sofa pillow. This was the original idea behind this puppet. The small eyes were placed close to the nose, the nose was a button, and her mouth was heart-shaped and red. The head was decorated with lace around it. The head was likely shaped from soft textiles, to look similar to a pillow.

Her breasts were also shaped as large and round pillows, the waist was narrow, and the 'skirt' had pillows on it. Beneath the skirt, the puppet had long legs, wearing boots. This puppet was utterly comical, and very expressive, with all its varieties of pillows. They were made from many different textiles, with brocade textiles as the dominating.

Miss Juliane also wore a voluminous hat, and it was barely possible to see her face. An attempt at describing it goes as follows: A high crown with a broad brim. The brim was decorated with many artificial flowers, fringes, and feathers. There were long green leaves hanging down from the brim, and the crown was also decorated with the same green leaves. The hat was lavish, to put it mildly.

The puppet was constructed with a rod in its head, used to steer the puppet. The body parts hung more or less loose, and could be used rather freely and untraditionally, in concert with the construction and the idea behind the puppet. Stage designer and puppet maker Narud allowed the puppet a large visual and physical flexibility.

In a quote from Vindsetmo (2002), the following is said:

"Today, 'the subtext' has become a part of an Ibsen interpretation we take for granted. (...) Then what happens with an Ibsen text, if you take away this 'underworld' we usually demand and expect? We decide to make this limitation into our great opportunity. No, surely puppets cannot express complicated psychological processes, but they can express an essence. We keep having to arrest one another in automatically 'thinking subtext': 'Now we're there again!' Our conversations are just about how to remove layer upon layer from the tradition to find the core, each character's 'true nature'."

Helgesen, Anne, M. (2003:372).