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Peer Gynt
Dundee Rep
Five stars
Robert Dawson Scott
There was a remarkable production of Ibsens’ Doll’s House from New York at the
Edinburgh Festival last month. But Dominic Hill’s bravura version of Peer Gynt, in a
lavish co-production between Dundee Rep and the National Theatre of Scotland, is
even more breath-taking.
The picaresque story of Peer and his travels and travails in search of himself,
notoriously unstageable with its trolls, journeys, fantasy sequences, and the
mysterious button-man, suddenly all makes perfect sense.
Just about every possible theatrical discipline is stretched to its limits. There are
inspired staging ideas (designs by Naomi Wilkinson) which use every inch of the
theatre, from the giant scene dock to the auditorium. There are quad-bikes and
aeroplanes, palm trees and gorillas (five of them).
There are sensational individual performances, not least from Keith Fleming as the
young Peer, a regular member of the Rep’s standing company but a revelation here, a
roaring boy who explodes onto the stage with reckless energy, far too much for his
home town to contain. The Peer of the second half is played by a different, older actor
(Gerry Mulgrew, also in tremendous form), a clever innovation in itself giving a sense
of depth and of a long life lived.
Colin Teevan’s muscular, contemporary sounding adaptation of the text, full of
vigorous cursing and swearing (the troll king is called simply King Bastard) but also
full of subtle modernisations (Peer has made his fortune as a people trafficker, the
journey home is by a budget airline) is crucial.
Paddy Cuneen’s music sets the tone, from the Country and Western dance at the
wedding, to the final closing hymn delivered by the 20 strong company lined up on a
giant metal staircase which runs diagonally across the back wall of the theatre while
Solveig comforts Peer, old and young, in the scuzzy caravan which passes for the
home in the woods.
But this is Hill’s triumph above all. He has clearly trusted Ibsen, thought through all
the twists and turns of the original with enormous care and then, with his formidable
theatrical imagination, made sense of them for a contemporary audience. As a final
example, the unfathomable button-man is here played by the gaunt Cliff Burnett, in
white from head to toe, including his flowing white hair. He is on stage in almost
every scene, sometimes in the band, sometimes in the action, but always present in
Peer’s life. He is, effectively, his soul. When it comes to the judgement at the end,
you know that he knows everything.
Until Oct Box Office 01382 223530