The Old Man of the Dovre

The Norwegian Touring Theatre sought enforcements and competence from the Tandarica theatre in Bucharest, represented by director Niculescu, stage designer Conovici and actor/puppeteer Justin Grad. The director and the stage designer had both collaborated with The Norwegian Touring Theatre's puppet theatre in the production East of the Sun and West of the Moon (1976). For The Norwegian Touring Theatre's students in puppetry, the rehearsal period was also a course in different forms of puppetry and acting.

The role of The Old Man of the Dovre was played by Stein Grønli. 

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

SOURCES:

Mona Wiig's private archive

The Norwegian Touring Theatre's archive

Review from Aftenposten November 3, 1978

Donated by: The Norwegian Touring Theatre. Mona Wiig.

Transported 11.11.2019.

The head of The Old Man of the Dovre was cut from Styrofoam and fortified with thin paper and wood glue. A small crown was placed in a slant on his head, a comical effect compared to the large head and the rest of the body. The eyes were placed high, almost at the forehead. They were hollowed and painted darkly with black spheres as pupils. Thin, stiff sticks symbolised a thin, stiff beard. These sticks were of varying length, from 15 to 25 centimetres long. The broad mouth had some visible teeth to the left. The costume of The Old Man of the Dovre was made from burlap and decorated with large golden coins.

The Old Man of the Dovre was constructed as a humanette, with the head of the puppet fastened to the head of the actor/puppeteer. The Old Man of the Dovre stood large in height and width (approximately 190 centimetres tall). Through the throat of the puppet, the puppeteer could look out and orient himself onstage. There was not much visibility, the head was large and heavy, and it could be warm inside of it. The contrast between the large head, the thick throat, the stiff and clumsy movements and the body's more dynamic gestures suited the character.

In an Aftenposten interview, written by Celine Wormdal, and published October 25, 1978, director Margareta Niculescu said the following, among other things:

"We have cut in the text and thrown around some of the scenes, but other than that, we have kept Ibsen's text as it is. In this, I have collaborated closely with Rønnaug Alten. The problem was that I worked with an old French translation, Prozor's, which is in prose. Afterwards, we had to try to find the same lines in Ibsen's text. Two actors perform it, Toril Gording and Norvald (Sceneweb's correction: Noralv) Teigen, and they are onstage the whole time. The roles are physically performed by six Norwegian puppeteers and one Romanian puppeteer. These perform text in some scenes, though."