An accomplished and heartwarming performance, in which Kåre Conradi reflects on how Gynt became Norway’s most unlikely national hero.Rating
Unmissable!
Peer Gynt is widely regarded as one of Ibsen’s most famous works. Written in 1867, almost midway through his career, it was hugely successful. Gynt chronicles the life and journey of its titular character, while deliberately disregarding the traditional stagecraft of the time. The action moves freely across forty scenes, drifting through time and space, slipping between consciousness and the unconscious, and blending folkloric fantasy with an unsentimental realism. As a result of its surreal form, it is not the easiest of plots to follow.
In The Story of Peer Gynt, Kåre Conradi, a prolific Norwegian actor and Ibsen expert, brings his “dramatised lecture” about the play to the Coronet Theatre. First and foremost, that descriptor is a long way short of the mark. What the capacity audience experiences is a heart-warming, funny, accomplished, and ultimately eye-opening performance, with Conradi playing Peer Gynt (among other characters), frequently breaking the fourth wall to explain the relevance of the action and to muse on how Gynt has become Norway’s most unlikely national hero.
Speaking mainly in English, he often shifts into Norwegian, with a few other languages thrown in for good measure. He is deliberately very funny in his native tongue, using exaggerated gestures to aid the audience’s understanding, and revelling in its guttural sounds. Gynt, as we learn, is a cocky yet charismatic young man who sets out from home in search of fame and fortune, doing so with little regard for those he encounters and exploits along the way. He is the ultimate anti-hero.
The stage is bare save for one chair when Conradi enters. He introduces himself, describes his love for the play, and begins the action, only to pause almost immediately with a glint in his eye, turn to the audience, and point out Peer Gynt’s character flaws to much hilarity. It is this intimacy that he uses so effectively to break the fourth wall, illuminate a character or scene, and highlight the plot’s occasional absurdity.
The lighting is sublime in its seeming simplicity: initially centred on Conradi as he is curled over the chair, the sun appears as his eager young face opens to the audience and continues to change the mood of the piece with searing columns of light or fading to ponderous darkness.
In just over an hour, we are treated to far more than a simple explanation of Peer Gynt: we experience flair, humour, connection, and a reminder of just how ground-breaking Ibsen was in his time, and how relevant his work remains today. It is rare to see an actor establish such an easy, assured rapport with an audience from the outset, and reminds us of the enduring value of live performance. Often, the best evenings are those spent in the company of one gifted and knowledgeable individual simply sharing their passion with an audience in the simplest of settings.
Written by Henrik Ibsen
Adaptated by Elisabeth Gording and Kåre Conradi
Directed by Kåre Conradi
Light design by Anders Busch
Produced by André Moi Danielsen for The Norwegain Ibsen Company
The Story of Peer Gynt plays at the Coronet Theatre until Saturday 21 February
