Peer Gynt

Based on Henrik Ibsen
A dynamic drama by John Bock and Lars Eidinger
A co-production with Schaubühne Berlin and Théâtre de Liège

Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt” is an incredibly prescient psychological drama that has lost none of its topicality in this day and age. It is the story of a lost soul, a twentieth-century Ulysses transported into the twenty-first century by way of the nineteenth century.
Ibsen’s dramatic poem focuses on a Norwegian farm boy who masters the art of spinning a yarn. In his fantasies, Gynt not only conjures up fairy-tale worlds, but also his own self; he continuously reinvents his life story. The restless wanderer abandons his Norwegian homeland and his one true love to embark on a fantastical journey of (self) discovery. Yet Peer Gynt, who constantly searches for his true identity, is destined to remain dissatisfied in this regard: his curious soul is impossible to pin down. He is gambler, storyteller, lover, mindless consumer, adventurer, all rolled in one.
Conceptual artist John Bock loves to transgress boundaries in his works. He gleefully combines performance, art installations, sculptures, slapstick, and film to create art that resembles a synthetic chimera. Together with his collaborator Lars Eidinger, he offers a fresh take on the Norwegian everyman. Their irreverent mix of theater, fine art, and performance envisions a provocative new “Peer Gynt.” Ibsen’s text serves as mere a starting point for the exploration of a modern identity that is torn between the stage and the internet, character and actor, filter bubble and reality.

In cooperation with Schaubühne Berlin, Ruhrfestspielen, Théâtre de Liège and Festival Printemps des Comédiens Montpellier.