Peer Gynt

“A synopsis of the original runs to the length of a sizeable short story, which means that translator, adaptor and director TerjeTveit deserves credit for wrestling this down to manageable size. [...] Nick Whitley gives the trilby-wearing Peer a nice insouciance which provides its own forward momentum [...] A couple of outbursts of nifty choreography are pleasing to watch, and the whole thing is undoubtedly sexier than most fringe productions.”

“A Pleasance look at the serious side of sinning [...] The world of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is a place of loose morals, gleeful misadventure and heartbreak. Where better to set Terje Tveit’s unconventional new production of the 19th century classic then, than in the prohibition era of the early 1930s? Peer, an unscrupulous libertine who believes that “to sin, you have to be serious about it” wanders seedy jazz clubs and gangster haunts in search of his true identity in the Ibsen Stage Company’s latest offering. [...] Originally created by the author to be read, it proved so popular that it was soon adapted for theatrical performance. Ibsen cleverly intertwines his satirical views on the human condition with references to traditional Norwegian fairy tales while Tveit, the ballast of the Ibsen Stage Company, heightens the theme of the timeless-ness further by removing the play from its 19th century settings. It’s a heady mix of proverb, original sin and gangsters by the small company. [...] A prohibition cocktail with a kick.”