Not Ibsen's Peer Gynt

Henrik Ibsen wrote his five act drama Peer Gynt in 1867 while living in Italy. It tells the story of the downfall and subsequent redemption of a Norwegian peasant anti-hero. It was written in verse and wasn’t originally intended for stage performance. However, in 1874, he changed his mind and wrote to his friend and compatriot Edvard Grieg to ask if he would compose the music for a production of the play. Jeff Moule originally devised and designed the play for Belper School students over 20 years ago and having worked with the Players two years ago on his adaptation of ‘Caging the Wild Birds’ was persuaded to adapt the play, especially for them. Jeff’s version of the narrative is, and I quote, “Not Ibsen’s Peer Gynt because it seeks to lift the female characters out of his shadow. Perhaps he is who he is because of the way the women in his life have treated and responded to him: nurture as well as nature is at work here. It is the women who have the power to change things is my interpretation of this tale.” Jeff Moule certainly fulfills that aim as the women in the play all have strong characters and all are played with great aplomb. There are over 50 characters in the play and with a cast of 23 there was inevitably quite a bit of ‘doubling-up’. There were four members of the cast playing the role of Peer Gynt covering his life from a weak young boy, through early manhood, to a maturing entrepreneur and finally to an impoverished old man. First was James Brennan as the young Peer, Jamie Snell when he was a little older, Josh Sly as a Man and Nick Mothershaw as a Man with Terry Stevenson as the much older Peer. Each of them was so convincing in the role, especially Terry Stevenson, coping with reality, fairy tales, wonderful trolls and other mysterious beings through the varied travels along his way. Sheila Kay Sly delivered a wonderful portrayal of Peer’s mother, Aase, when he was younger as did Maggie Burns who became his mother in his latter years. The scene when Peer, Nick Mothershaw, returned to find his mother dying was particularly moving. Vanessa McAuley who initially played Ingrid, was very expressive when she played the Waitress, her antics as a tree and a horse were hilarious. Kerry-Ann Roe was very regal as the Dovre Queen, Sophie Mander was delightful as the somewhat submissive Solveig, Keren Adler was great as the sexy temptress Green Woman managing to get herself pregnant by Peer and Sarah Holme commanded the stage as the Button Moulder. I loved the singing of Georgia Moule as Helga. She has such a beautiful exquisite voice it was just perfect for the songs she sang. The versatile ensemble, for want of a better word, were superb as the Bazooka playing Village Band, the Trolls, the upper-class Business People and the Lunatics. The set was simple but effective as was the lighting, sound and incidental music and there were some very innovative costumes. It was a shame however, that the back projections failed in the first half of the play but were in full working order for the second half. Jeff Moule must be commended for writing this very quirky, humorous adaptation of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and for directing what was an extremely entertaining piece of theatre. Congratulations to him, the whole cast and everyone else involved.

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