Gyntish Self
The Gyntish Self
One rendition of the play was produced at Carnegie Mellon as Peter’s thesis play a few years back, and I had the opportunity to see it. While it has changed with re-writes and a newly emerging production, the play has lost none of its comedic bite.
Peter’s play is based on the Ibsen play Peer Gynt, which is based on the Norwegian fairy tale Per Gynt. Apparently at the time Ibsen wrote it there was a hullabaloo about the thing, with a bunch of pissed off Norwegians, and I’m sure they’d all be even more incensed by what Peter does with it. However, just like the Ibsen play, Peter’s creation moves seemlessly between the world of today and the deranged lunacy that is Peer Gynt’s mind. Of spontaneous interest to me was that Edvard Grieg wrote In the Hall of the Mountain King for the play and when I was visiting Mike Geither last Friday night for his birthday his son was playing that very song on the piano.
Regardless, the play, so far, is good fun with a great cast and I look forward to the upcoming production! If you wish to contribute to Peter’s production efforts.
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I’ve never heard of the Ibsen play, “Peer Gynt,” or the old Norwegian fairy tale, “Per Gynt.” It sounds like an interesting story to tell in a play. I’m sure your friend’s play is quite the production with a tale like this!