Kotick - The White Seal

The production The White Seal was a great success for the ensemble, and for Kjersti Germeten, who had the artistic responsibility for the adaptation of the story, design and making of puppets and direction. She received The Norwegian Critics' Award for Theatre in 1984. Stage designer Hans Petter Harboe had been artistically responsible for several earlier productions at Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)'s puppetry theatre. He must also be given some of the honour for this production, according to R. Wang and V. Helgesen. The two write: "Meters of waving silk made an effectful ocean. And using a bow-shaped mirror as the horizon, with simple reflexes from streamers of silver paper, he developed a feeling of diving up from the deepest of depths."  (Wang, R. and Helgesen, V., 2000: 304).

Sceneweb refers to the other puppets registered from this production, seahorses and walruses. The other puppet in the photo is Kotick's girlfriend. 

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.

Performance program. 

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

Transported 06.05.2020.

Kotick was played by two puppets with different construction and near the same look: A hand puppet and a rod puppet. The material both puppets were made in was velour or velvet, which in stage lighting gave the illusion of fur. The puppets had large eyes with eye lids and black irises. The nose was black at the tip.

One of the puppets was padded with plastic foam and other light padding. This puppet was steered with two rods. The other was a hand puppet (glove puppet) worn on the puppeteer's hand. The undersleeve was adjusted for the puppeteer's hand, and the oversleeve/costume (alias the fur) was padded and covered in velour.

The description is based on a photo.

The rod puppet Kotick was steered by two rods. One was fastened at the back, near the tail, and the other at the front, by the neck. The body of the seal was constructed for flexibility in the neck. As was the tail, where the padding was looser, so that the tail could be moved easily. The puppeteer had to hold his hands lifted to be able to play with this puppet.

The hand puppet Kotick was steered by the puppeteer's hand, inside the body of the puppet. An underglove adjusted to the puppeteer's hand was necessary. The body was shaped on this undersleeve, and it was important that the material didn't hinder the mobility of the puppet. It is likely that Kotick could open and close his mouth.

The description is based on photos.

The theme of Kipling's short story was human abuse of innocent seals. "The story tells us how the chosen white seal takes on the responsibility for his family, leading the whole expanded family through dangers to the free beach, "where all can play safely". (Wang, R. and Helgesen. V., 2000: 304).

A photo of the performers in this production is also registered within the Sceneweb database. From the left we can see Anne-Lise Ruud with the octopus, Ragnhild Wang with Matkah (Kotick's mother), Kjersti Germeten with the turtle, Knut Wiulsrød with Kotick, Anne Thidemand with the walrus and the girlfriend, and Stein Kiran with the seahorse and the crab.