PEER GYNT

Two-act play (Age limit: 14+)

Didžioji scena

Author: Henrik Ibsen

Director: Csaba Polgár

Set and costume designer: Lili Izsák

Dramatist: Ármin Szabó-Székely

Composer: Tamás Matkó

Actors: Dainius Svobonas, Dovydas Pabarčius, Kamilė Lebedytė, Eglė Mikulionytė, Martyna Gedvilaitė, Artūras Sužiedėlis, Kęstutis Povilaitis, Gintautas Bejeris

Duration – 3:05 h

The verse play Peer Gynt, written by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906), is one of the most staged and interpreted works of the classic; however, only its fragments have appeared on the Lithuanian stage. Now, Hungarian director Csaba Polgár is presenting this masterpiece of the 19th century at the National Kaunas Drama Theatre by proposing a distinctive, modern, and bold interpretation of the work. Just imagine Peer Gynt staying not in a hut in Norwegian woods surrounded by trolls, but, let’s say, in Kaunas bedroom community, on the sixth floor of a block of flats. There he lives with his mother and dreams of extraordinary feats. The creators of the performance speak of those who dream, talk, drink, and are jealous of the wealth and wisdom of others. They speak of those travelling around the world, who are angry, greedy, egoistic, who have lost significant relationships, and have not felt that they have truly lived. Or maybe they have never gotten up from their couch on the sixth floor of the block of flats? This performance is a story of contradictions between capabilities and ambitions, desires and possibilities; it is a story about the search of yourself in a world that is tough on a person, the rebellion against your destiny, freedom and its limits, responsibility, and unconditional love. It tells about battles with trolls hidden inside all of us, who lock us up in a cage of infantility, prevent us from finding our true selves and making something out of our lives.

Translated from Norwegian by Rimutė Rimantienė and Tatjana Rostovaitė