Reviews for Peer Gynt

The average rating for Peer Gynt based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-04-27 00:00:00 Charles Mcdonald If theatre is at its best when it makes you feel pity and terror in the Aristotelian sense of catharsis, Peer Gynt is undoubtedly one of the great plays in the history of stage art. I can't say it felt particularly cathartic, though, reading it in its thorny Norwegian, and then watching it on stage in a furiously angry Swedish. Trolltider... we live in an era of trolls, and Peer Gynt is strangely close to our egomaniac times, in which the Nietzschean Übermensch takes what he can get with no regrets. Maybe because I recognise too much of the confusing story in real life, I felt terror but no relief. I felt pity, but no compassion. Peer Gynt is the Norwegian Faust, a man so convinced of his own entitlement that he doesn't hesitate to betray both his mother Åse and his lover Solveig to embark on a wild adventure in search for his own fulfilment. He dares to strike a devil's deal with the trolls of the forest and then to blatantly deny any knowledge of his own actions, lying whenever it is convenient, taking no responsibility at all for anything he says or does or promises. Even the trolls are dumped at his convenience. Peer Gynt, the man in charge of a grandiosity monopoly, is capable of charming his way back into the hearts of those who were abused and mistreated by him over and over. Whenever he decides to change, the world bows to his whims. Terror? Plenty! Pity? For those who get into close contact with him, trolls included. Redemption? Undeserved, and not granted by me. Solveig! Do what Nora did! You are not Peer's doll, and you deserve better than a tyrant playing with you at his leisure in a prison called A Doll's House. Catharsis? No! As long as the Peer Gynts of the world get away with behaving like monsters without any punishment, there can be no catharsis for me, not even in a brilliant theatre.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-08-29 00:00:00 Sam Bowden This week I finally got round to checking out Peer Gynt A celebrated rhymed drama by Henrik Ibsen, inn't? To get the full effect, you need to read it in Norwegian Or possibly translated to other languages of that region Earlier epics in verse, I can think the author built on But I'd be willing to bet a krona that none of them was Milton (As a neighboring country might perhaps say, fy fan, A work that's a good deal closer is Byron's Don Juan.) Gynt is a liar, a blackguard, a general cad Somehow we're left feeling that he's really not so bad When he treats women like dirt, he always does it with a smile Like Flashman, we forgive him, since he has a sense of style Is it existentialist philosophy? We're led a merry dance Some parts are, you'll have gathered, unsuitable for maiden aunts Others may be based on ancient tales of troll and elf All the same it resembles nothing quite so much as itself Does it sound like this review? No, honestly, not at at all! Since I can't write like Ibsen, I've copied McGonagall Well perhaps a tiny bit. He can't resist a terrible rhyme And like the Scot, he'll be remembered for a very long time.