The green-clad woman

There were many reactions from audiences and the media, positive and negative, on having the very national epic performed with puppets. Different types of puppets were used: Humanettes, marionettes, hand puppets and rod puppets. All puppets were produced in workshops at Tandarica theatre in Bucharst (Romania), under the direction of the stage designer.

The role of Peer Gynt was played by the Romanian actor/puppeteer Justin Grad, whereas two Norwegian actors performed the text. Six puppeteers took part in the production. Anne Stray played the role of the green-clad woman.

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

SOURCES:

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

Mona Wiig's private archive

Review from Dagbladet, date unknown

Transported 31.01.2019.

The green-clad woman had a pig-like head cut from Styrofoam. The head was small compared to the over-large body. Two long ears stuck out from the head, which was decorated with cotton gauze, in shapes similar to papillottes. The vital body parts of the puppet were made from Styrofoam. They consisted of overlarge pink hanging boobs with pacifiers as nipples, and a giant pink hanging stomach. These body parts were covered by a layer of thin paper, wrinkled so that the skin would look wrinkled. The colour was washed-out pink. Around the throat (in which the puppeteer's face was hidden) and the back part of the body, there were layers of loose pieces of fabric (cotton gauze), hanging down to hide the puppteer. The colours of these textiles were nuances of green.

The green-clad woman was constructed as a humanette, where the head of the puppet was fastened to the puppeteer's/actress' head. She could see/orient herself through the thin cotton gauze that made up the puppet's throat. The puppeteer's movements created the puppet's physical expression. All aspects of the green-clad woman were extreme, grotesque and near comical.

Erik Pierstorff wrote the following, among other things, in his review in Dagbladet:

"They (the puppets, Sceneweb's comment) are not like anything I have seen onstage before. (...) They are human-sized and the puppeteer is inside of the puppet. The head of the puppet is on top of the head of the man or woman inside. This gives each puppet a special, very strange and - as the performance progresses - rather stereotypical look. The contrast between the head area and the fully stiff torso on one hand, and the pretty movable and naturalistic arms on the other became rather distracting. And then there is the issue that the poor puppeteers must be able to see to be able to perform. At the centre of the puppets' throats, around where one could imagine an Adam's apple, one senses the puppeteers' faces, even more when the fabric is thinner here, so that the puppeteers can see. But then we can also see them."