| Peer Gynt |
by Henrick Ibsen5 - 14 July 2007
Come with us as we join the colourful adventures of Peer Gynt travelling the world with a breathtaking lust for life. A man with no calling, no commitment and no morality. Ibsen’s classic is a thought provoking fable of the universal struggle to find our own identity and the meaning of life. Meet a host of characters including the Mountain King, the Trolls, Elves and goblins, the Great Boyg and the beautiful and ever patient Solveig. Thrill at the visual and musical spectacle, laugh or cry and ponder as you travel with Peer Gynt over mountains, desert and seas. This production is adapted from a translation by Michael Meyer and we will be taking it to the Minack Theatre in Cornwall.
Cast
Croydon Advertiser ReviewJul 17 2007 Theo SpringTAKING on the challenge of this complex Henrik Ibsen play would be daunting, to say the least, to most amateurs. Originally a lengthy piece, the cutting necessary to bring it down to an acceptable duration caused major omissions in the story which, in itself, is not straightforward. Biting the bullet, director John Harris-Rees brought innovative thinking to the fairytale side of the story of Peer Gynt's travel through life. But for those who did not know either the original poem upon which the play is based, or the play itself, the puzzled faces of the audience members at both the interval, and the end, spoke volumes. A versatile cast doubled and trebled up in diverse roles, turning themselves from villagers at a wedding feast, to shadows, rocks, trolls, Arabian dancers, and sailors. The story of Peer Gynt's wastrel and uncaring youth morphed into his financial success through his dealings in the slave trade and his general lack of care for his fellow man. His only love was for himself. Gary Heron had the difficult task of playing the young profligate Peer who ages through the play without learning any of life's lessons. A wordy and demanding part, he seemed more at home in his older skin as he tried to fathom where his happiness lay. As his mother, Aase, Mary-Rose Goodliffe overcame the apparent lack of difference in their real-life ages to bring angst, forgiveness and a mother's blindness to her son's faults to her performance. Her death scene was particularly effective. Tall, and made taller by a high top hat, Laurence Marsh brought the whiff of doom to the Button Moulder. As the Old Man of the Mountain, Jerry Phillips almost had the measure of the conceited Peer as he bargained for his daughter, and his short appearance as Herr von Eberkopf also made an impact. The pure and loving Soveig is the girl who finally jolts Peer from his wicked ways - Katie Phillips making her winsome, while doubling as the scheming Anitra called on very different acting skills. The large cast with youth on its side is taking the production to the Minack Theatre in Cornwall where the wonderful backdrop will enhance the ethereal scenes, and the interweaving music from Greig and, rather aptly, from Queen, will resound. What that holiday audience will make of it, who can tell - puzzled, I predict.
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