OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Frank McGuinness 

• Adapted / Translated From

  Henrik Ibsen

• Author Notes

  A new version of the original play by Henrik Ibsen from a literal translation by Anne Bamborough.

• Setting

  Parts One and three - Norway. Part Two - Morocco, The Desert, Egypt.

• Synopsis

  Peer Gynt is a young man who has great potential as an artist but who is constantly at war with his physical desires. Despite his quest for absolute purity he repeatedly falls for the fleshy temptations of compromise, as he swaggers and seduces his way from the fjords of Norway to the deserts of Africa and back. Along the way, he has a number of trials and adventures. He meets a young woman and they fall in love; he helps a bride escape from her wedding; he considers joining the Trolls; he becomes a successful businessman, loses it all, pretends to be an Arab prophet, and winds up in a lunatic asylum. Finally, he returns home to confront a creature called the Shadow, who has always been watching him and trying to teach him what it is to be human. It is the Shadow who forces Peer to consider returning to the woman he fell in love with so much earlier in the story, and pursue a career as an artist.

• Play Type

  Adaptation/Translation
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  43

• Female

  26

• Total

  69

• Cast Notes

  Cast doubling is possible. In the original production three different actors played Peer Gynt and all cast members played additional minor roles. See original production for details.

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  04 October 1988

• Producer

  Produced by Gate Theatre

• Original Venue

  Gate Theatre/Amharclann an Gheata
  

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme.