Peer Gynt

Liv H. Røed in Verdens Gang wrote the following, among other things, in her review November 2, 1978:

"A picturesque feast for the eye, and a true joy for the ear. If one thinks that puppetry is only for children, one has to think again. This is theatre for the whole family. (...) And let us, at the same time, shower endless flowers over the two (Toril Gording and Noralf Teigen, editorial comment), for in them there was a use of voice and an identification with the material and the types that seemed simply perfect. (...). Justin Grad is new at these latitudes, but has years of puppetry expertise behind him. He made Peer strangely real in front of our eyes, and it is impressing to note how coordinated the puppet and the voice were, considering that Grad had to play against an unknown language."

In the playbill for Peer Gynt (1978), Grad is asked if he ever has worked on a similar performance. "Never. It is absolutely the first time I have touched upon anything reminiscent of Peer Gynt." 

The role of Peer Gynt was played by the Romanian actor/puppeteer Justin Grad. One photo shows Peer as young, with Mother Mor Aase, in another he is shown as old with the passenger. 

Sceneweb refers to the other puppets registered from the production Peer Gynt. These are Mother Aase, The green-clad woman, Three-headed trolls, The Old Man of the Dovre, The Button Moulder and the passenger.

SOURCES:

Mona Wiig's private archive

The Norwegian Touring Theatre's archive, playbill from the production

Review from Arbeiderbladet, published November 4, 1978

Review from Verdens Gang, published November 2, 1978

Donated by: The Norwegian Touring Theatre. Mona Wiig.

Transported 11.11.2019.

The head of Peer was shaped from Styrofoam and fortified with paper and glue. The face was rather flat. Only the eyes were prominent (they were concave). The rest of the features were marked with lines. The foundation colour of the face was fair. The hair was made from strong hemp or other coarse yarn, with some yellow to it.

Peer's costume was made from burlap. The colour was beige, and it reached him to the middle of his leg. It had a wide part made from leather fastened around the waist, to mark the divide between the upper and the lower costume. The puppet's head was fastened to the puppeteer's head, and the rest of the puppeteer's body was inside the puppet's costume. The fabric was loosely woven, so that it was possible to breathe and to look through it. The arms of the puppeteers functioned as Peer's arms, and he wore gloves on his hands. Beneath the costume, the puppeteer wore simple pants from burlap.

Peer Gynt was a humanette, a construction where the puppeteer/actor puts a costume or a suit on top of himself/herself (in other words, dresses in). The actor Justin Grad, who played Peer Gynt, had the puppet's head fastened to his own head. This gave the puppet a long and disproportionally thick neck. Grad could orient onstage through the burlap fabric the costume was sewn from. He could use his whole body, with arms and legs, in playing Peer.

All puppets/masks and stage design for Peer Gynt were produced in the workshops of the theatre Tandarica in Bucharest.

Bengt Calmeyer in Arbeiderbladet wrote the following, among other things, in his review November 4, 1978:

"It will, for more than me, be a strange discovery. More than that. One will see that in this production of Peer, parts of Ibsen's dramatic poem is given a stronger expression than when the usual form of theatre is used. The reason is likely the very obvious, that in puppetry, any demand for naturalism is void. As Max Frisch says: Puppetry can't for a moment be mistaken for reality."