PEER GYNT
The demons always catch up with you – especially if you insist on not facing them. In Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 poem about the ultimate self-deception, we find ourselves inside the head of the endlessly self-important Peer Gynt.
Peer Gynt is a grand text in a small space. Former artistic director Hanne Tømta has set the action in a cocktail bar. It’s the perfect environment for the compulsive liar Peer, who drinks, lies, sings karaoke, and charms women effortlessly. He leads a frivolous, irresponsible life, is a dreamer who avoids commitments and difficult choices, and escapes into fantasy when faced with resistance. The cocktail bar suits this so-called citizen of the world, full of bravado and self-praise. It’s a place where seeing and being seen matters, where image quickly outweighs personality.
The current currency in this cocktail bar is symbols of sexual appeal, and the ideal is to appear self-satisfied…
But even though Peer Gynt believes he owns the world, he is constantly haunted by inner demons that follow him everywhere. The production remains true to the core themes of the human psyche’s ability to repress difficult emotions—until they inevitably rise to the surface.
In the role of the smug Peer Gynt, you’ll see Espen Reboli Bjerke. In the bar, you’ll also meet Matias Kuoppala, Georg Devendra Apenes, Øystein Martinsen, Ingrid Unnur Giæver, and Marit Adeleide Andreassen.