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Last night JSP and I went to the Guthrie Theater to see their current mainstage show, Peer Gynt. We left our home in Northeast Minneapolis about 20 minutes before showtime and arrived only ten minutes before the curtain. This time crunch meant that we did not have time to lounge about in the Guthrie's deliciously modern public spaces and bars. Instead we were herded with our fellow audience members through the halls and into the thrust theatre to our seats.

As we took our seats, we noticed that most of the cast was already on stage. The actors were greeting each other and speaking casually to the audience in typical Midwestern dialects. We could discern that they were talking about a party happening and they seemed happy that we all had made it through the cold to join them. The stage was minimally dressed, but was staged to look artfully like the inside of a barn. The stage floor itself appeared to be made of planks of hardwood. Later in the show the floor would show off a marvelous ability to transform to look like both shifting sands and finally moving water in a tempestuous sea.

The script is based on Henrik Ibsen's construction of a Norwegian Folktale. Ibsen is best known for his play A Doll's House. This translation and script work was done by Robert Bly, a Minnesotan writer probably best known for Iron John: A Book About Men.

The play follows the title character Peer Gynt, a merry prankster of an everyman, through his life. His life is marked by an inability to connect in any real way with women or anything feminine. He is driven by self interest and fear of commitment. The actor playing Peer is charismatic and interesting but even his fantastic acting skills were not enough for me to find his exploits worth savoring. The performances by the entire cast were first rate. However, I was really not very touched by the content of the play. It was a little like using great ingredients to make a mediocre recipe. The play lasted too long and offered little philosophy to chew on.

Some have likened Peer Gynt to a morality play. This analysis falls short because the main moral question in the script is roughly: Is it enough to just be yourself, or is it important to challenge yourself to be responsible to those who love you and to your community as a whole?

I saw a different translation of this play performed at Hill Murray High School when I was in about sixth grade. As a student years ago, I thought that the Norwegian tale of Peer Gynt must be too deep for me to fully understand. By seeing this production I realized that this was not the case. The play is a farce dressed up as something profound.

In summary, the production was very good, but the play itself is mediocre. It was interesting to see that with even the full artistic force of the Guthrie Theater behind this play, it still could not become a better play than it is. I guess we cannot blame Ibsen's Peer Gynt, the play is just being itself.

Labels: arts, Minnesota, Northeast Minneapolis