Roosty Rooster (Hane Pane)

Wang, R. and Helgesen, V. wrote: "Temporal had brought in a new technique with the charming duck of Festen på taket* (The Party on the Roof). It was continued in The Hen Who Had to..., where the poultry were given the same kind of tripping, expressive feet, and a caricatured language on their irrational, but determined wandering towards Dovre Mountain." (2000: 303).

Roosty Rooster (Norwegian: Hane Pane) was played by Åsmund Huser.

Sceneweb refers to the other puppets registered from this production. These are Henny Hen (Høne Pøne) and the fox. 

The production was revived in 1978.

SOURCES:

Wang, Ragnhild and Vibeke Helgesen: Den magiske hånd. Dukkespill og figurteater gjennom tidene (literally: The magic hand. Puppetry throughout the ages). Pax forlag, Oslo 2000.

Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre). Performance program.

Donated by: Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre). Knut Wiulsrød.

Imported 24.05.2020. 

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.

The outer, visible material used for Roosty Rooster (Norwegian: Hane Pane) was elastic cotton terry cloth. The head, the body, the tail, the wings, the collar of feathers surrounding the neck and more were made from this material. Legs and feet were likely also made from this, but it is also possible that the material used for these was thin glove leather. Beneath the costume, the body and the head of the puppet were likely shaped from plastic foam. The feet were enlarged and padded for the sake of enlarging the movement of the feet and thus the puppet as a whole. Roosty Rooster was made from the same material as Henny Hen (Norwegian: Høne Pøne) and the construction was also the same.

Roosty Rooster (Norwegian: Hane Pane) was not an ordinary rod puppet with movements centred on the arms. The puppet was shaped in plastic foam and was set in motion with a thin iron rod going through the puppet's body and head. The rod was prolonged by the puppeteer's grip on it. With the other hand, the puppeteer could move the puppet's feet, using small pockets placed beneath the feet. Roosty Rooster and Henny Hen (Norwegian: Høne Pøne) were constructed from the same template.

In the performance program, adapter Peder W. Cappelen wrote the following: "What, with puppetry, is it that has such a near mythical attraction on children and adults? Indeed, behind the children, the parents stretch their necks! I think the driving force is the same as the one that has a playwright want to use the medium: The strength of the situation and the types. I will put it as strongly as this: For one who has an aim with theatre as a medium, who wants to use of himself, it is natural from time to other to seek to puppetry. Here, one has to dig deep, to the bedrock, to the fundamental situation, the original situation, and the original situation, that is the starting point for any useful theatrical play, for adults and children. And now the types, the characters: As far as possible, one should work with the archetypes. The puppets - the dramatis personae - should have clear and fundamentally human traits."