Eric and Karlsson

The lack of source material limits the opportunity for a more detailed description of the puppets and the production. The editors find that the political aspect of the time is of great interest. It is concerned with the end of many years of work on producing puppetry, under the direction of Julian Strøm, followed by his daughter Birgit Strøm. It must also be mentioned that Elisabeth Strøm, sister of Birgit, took part in many of the productions. The work started at Folketeatret in 1953 and continued when Folketeatret and Det Nye Teater (literally: The New Theatre) joined forces and became Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre) in 1959. In 1966, the puppetry moved into facilities of their own at Oslo City Museum in Frogner. Birgit Strøm took over the position as artistic director from her father. 

The puppeteers had fought for contracts as actors at Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre). These contracts provided additional pay for touring, among other things. After 1968, the head of the theatre, Toralv Maurstad, wanted to take away this additional pay for touring. The main reason was economic difficulties, but Maurstad did not find understanding of or interest for puppetry a priority. He described puppeteers as "entertainers and jesters" (A. Helgesen 2003:358). No solution to the conflict was found, and it ended with the puppeteers having to leave their jobs.

Sceneweb refers to the other puppets registered as part of the production Karlsson on the Roof, the crooks Kalle (Cosh) and Rulle (Ruffy).   

SOURCES:

The conflict is thoroughly described in 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).

Transported 15.03.2020.  

The photo shows Eric (in Norwegian called Lillebror, meaning little brother) and Karlsson with their respective puppeteers and a group of children. In it, we can notice the different in size between puppets, adult puppeteers and children. The puppet closest to the middle must be Eric and the puppet to the right Karlsson. Both heads have an uneven surface, indicating that they may have been made from papier mâché. Both have great amounts of yarn for hair.

Eric wears a sweater and a pair of pants, possibly made from velvet, and he also has feet and shoes made by leather on his feet. It is not uncommon that glove puppets have legs hanging on the outside of their costumes, as this adds possibilities in the acting. An example is when a puppet sits down and dangles his legs over the board hiding the puppeteers. The hands of both puppets are padded, to make them larger and thus more expressive.

From the photo, we can only see the top of Karlsson, which is made from the same template as Eric. His costume is a squared shirt and a pair of pants with braces.

The description is based on photos.

The two glove puppets were built from the same principle; with an undersleeve adjusted to the puppeteer's hand, and an oversleeve/costume as described above. How the two puppeteers used their hands can't be said with certainty. It has been suggested that they found inspiration in Agnar and Jane Mykle's book Dukketeater! (literally: Puppetry!), published by Gyldendal forlag in 1967. This was the first book about puppetry, targeted towards practitioners, that was published in Norway. It thoroughly described the production of glove puppets.

The description is based on photos.