Peer Gynt
Director Alexander Mørk-Eidem wants to reclaim Ibsen's critical vision in Peer Gynt . That is why he is placing Peer in the studio of talk-show host Fredrik Skavlan. The audience is treated with the wild story of the biggest egoist in Norway.
Directed by Alexander Mørk-Eidem
Peer Gynt has turned 50 – and he feels it’s time to take stock of his life. He wants to put all the cards on the table – in prime time. Henrik Ibsen placed Peer in a traditional Norwegian rural community, director Alexander Mørk-Eidem has decided to make the liar and opportunist Peer Gynt explain himself in the heart of modern Norway: Fredrik Skavlan’s talk show. In the studio, Peer is confronted with himself and the life he has led.
The award-winning director has written and modernized the text – but it still rhymes. We are in Norway in 2014. From the television studio, Peer recounts his story, accompanied by a number of Norwegian celebrities. As it turns out, the celebrities are also characters in the play.
Eindride Eidsvold plays Peer, a charming bastard who trades in weapons and human cargo. And as in any Skavlan show, a music artist contributes. This is Solveig, played by singer and songwriter Amina Sewali. Throughout the show, she performs both newly written material and well-known pop hits.
Mørk-Eidem wants to take back Peer Gynt, a play Ibsen never intended to be a celebration of the Norwegian character. Do we, in Norway in 2014, cultivate those aspects of Peer Gynt that Ibsen denounced: cynicism, selfishness and the pursuit of one’s own success? In 2014, both Peer Gynt and Norway are having a midlife crisis. Peer turns 50, and Norway celebrates the anniversary of the constitution. Both have reached their goals: money, wealth and status. Now what? Does Skavlan have any surprise questions? Will Peer – and Norway – be caught with their pants down?