The Button Moulder

In the playbill, director Margareta Niculescu wrote the following, among other things:

"The road we have tried to walk cannot be called realistic or naturalistic, surrealistic or abstract theatre - it is not Eastern European theatre, nor Western European theatre, not continental, Atlantic or Alpine theatre. We have simply aimed to create theatre. If possible, good theatre. Thanks to pioneering work from The Norwegian Touring Theatre, under the direction of Gudrun Waadeland - where this puppetry company made its debut two years ago, with performances for children - one can now launch puppetry for an adult audience."

The role of The Button Moulder was played by Knut Alfsen. He is shown in one group photo, with the puppet in the background. Sceneweb may be able to supply more photos eventually.

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 Old Man of the Dovre, and the passenger.

SOURCES:

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

Mona Wiig's private archive

Review from Aftenposten, November 3, 1978

Donated by: The Norwegian Touring Theatre. Mona Wiig.

Transported 11.11.2019.

The Button Moulder was a humanette, like the other main characters of the production. The head of the puppet was made from Styrofoam and fortified with cotton gauze and glue, before it was painted in a fair colour. On his head, The Button Moulder wore a large, wide-brimmed hat, hiding much of his face. His costume was in two layers: A large, wide and ankle-long shirt, and a costume worn over it, with a low cut in front, at the chest. The sleeves reached to the elbows. Both costumes were made from burlap.

The Button Moulder was constructed as a humanette, and the puppeteer was inside the puppet/costume, with the puppet's head on top of his own head. The puppeteer's sight was reduced, as were his natural head movements. In performance, the challenges were to examine the opportunities in the contrasts between the head and the rest of the body. It was also possible to use these contrasts to underline the comical or the grotesque.

Aftenposten wrote the following in its review, published November 3, 1978:

"Inside of Puppet Peer, Romanian Justin Grad spends the evening. He is one of Romania's best known puppeteers. One cannot avoid to be the most impressed by the physical and the linguistic effort - his movements are coordinated to lines in a lanugage he cannot understand too much of. But the whole of the puppet theatre's ensemble - Knut Alfsen, Pål Brantzeg, Marianne Edvardsen, Stein Grønli, Christine Stoesen and Anne Stray - makes an impressive effort in the thorough work it must have been to put this production together. Steinar Ofsdal has written evocative music, and Toril Gording and Noralv Teigen are given the joy of singing two of Peer's monologues."