Peer Gynt

We have been given the play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen to work with during Unit 1. Peer Gynt is a complex story with many and quick scene changes. The main theme through the play is Peer’s constant search for his identity and himself. Ibsen wrote the play in deliberate disregard of the limitations that the conventional stagecraft of the 19th century imposed on drama as it was never meant to be staged when it was first written. Its forty scenes move fast in time and space and between consciousness and the unconscious, blending folkloric fantasy and unsentimental realism. Its filmic form jumps between spaces, quite like a Quinten Tarantino of its time.

Yesterday, a part of the class met and read through the script. We took turns in reading and it was really helpful being able to discuss it with the group, for understanding the play better. My thoughts afterwards were on how it is possible to map a characters way through a play like this. Is it better to design a simple set for a play like this or should it be chaotic and complicated? Would it be useful to use projection in terms of changing space really quickly?

In our individual design proposal for this unit we are expected to respond to this text, use it, or elements from it, as a kind of a springboard to find out what we want to do and where I want to go. How do I put a supernatural person on stage?