Fourth-year acting students at the Fountain School of Performing Arts take the stage for their final Dal performance this week in a brand-new adaptation of an ambitious, globe-spanning epic from one of modern theatre鈥檚 most famous names.聽
The production of Henrik Ibsen鈥檚 Peer Gynt, directed by Toronto-based Alistair Newton, encompasses a vast array of characters, time periods, locations, mediums, set pieces and costume changes, providing a fitting conclusion to the DalTheatre season.
Performances kick off in the Sir James Dunn Theatre this evening (March 28) at 7:30pm, running each evening at that time through Saturday (April 1). There will also be a 2pm matinee Saturday.
The play follows a man named Peer Gynt throughout his life as he seeks to become a 鈥淕reat Man of History,鈥� often harming others in the process. The shift in scenes between realistic and fantastical have made the play notoriously difficult to stage, but Newton鈥檚 new adaptation keeps the vastness while zeroing in on important themes.聽
Newton has chosen to cover 70 years of Peer鈥檚 life by beginning the play鈥檚 story in the 1860s when the original was written and ending just on the precipice of World War Two.聽
鈥淐onceptually, it鈥檚 all about how everything is changing in the background of Peer鈥檚 world,鈥� says Newton. 鈥淏ut does he change?鈥�
What does it mean to be 鈥済reat鈥�?
Peer鈥檚 quest to become great and 鈥渂e himself鈥� takes him across the world, and the play checks in on Peer at each stage of his life. We follow Peer from young manhood in Norway to as far away as Egypt, and even to a famous scene at the court of the troll king.聽
鈥淲e kind of catch windows into what鈥檚 going on with Peer Gynt,鈥� says actor Jack Wiggan, who plays the lead.聽
These different stages of Peer鈥檚 life also grapple with big topics such as gender, environmentalism and capitalism. As Peer strives to achieve 鈥済reatness,鈥� his ambition proves detrimental to others, to the environment, and, eventually, to himself.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot about the ways we can get tunnel-vision and myopic about ambition and about drive,鈥� says Newton.聽
Newton says his adaptation connects this to ideas of toxic masculinity: 鈥淧eer has a tragic fatal flaw, which is that he denies the feminine aspects of himself 鈥� and it鈥檚 up to the audience to decide whether he finds redemption at the end of the play.鈥�
Wiggan says that despite Peer鈥檚 flawed character, the rehearsal process has allowed him to find deep empathy with the character.聽
鈥淭his is a man who is enraptured with storytelling and performance, but feels like he has to kind of be the tough, macho, stereotypical man in order for people to think highly of him,鈥� says Wiggan. 鈥淪o I think finding sympathy for this character is a really interesting track to get to play, because the character goes through so many changes.鈥澛�
Shifting through time and space
While the story may be called Peer Gynt, the work is truly an ensemble piece, with every character fully explored and developed. Student Sophie Wilcott, who plays a bride named Ingrid, describes how each actor plays a 鈥渢rack鈥� of different characters throughout time.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a fun mishmash of people. We have Susan Stackhouse, who is an excellent vocal coach, making sure that all of our characters have a lot of vocal variety,鈥� says Wilcott.
Some characters have also been slightly altered from the original play to better reflect the themes of masculinity and social change. Says Wilcott of her character, Ingrid: 鈥淚n the original, she鈥檚 this damsel in distress who Peer Gynt steals away from the marriage. But in this adaptation, Alistair has written her to be a lot angstier, she doesn鈥檛 want to get married in the first place.鈥�
The play鈥檚 different time periods are captured through various technical elements and through more than 50 individual costumes, created in collaboration with Dal鈥檚 Department of Costume Studies.聽
鈥淚n the opening scene you鈥檒l see the big 1860s silhouettes on the women, and then we go all the way to a streamlined 1930s look at the end,鈥� says Newton.
Production designer聽Karyn McCallum has created design that goes on as long of a journey as Peer Gynt himself. The play uses everything from a traditional wooden wave machine to elements of film, projection and live stream as the story continues.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of different kinds and eras of theatre technology, because the narrative is demanding of so many different environments,鈥� says Newton.聽
Further collaboration with the Dalhousie Music program means that almost every scene is underscored with original music from composition students.
Celebrating with spectacle
The sheer number of characters, scenes, eras, themes, costumes, sets and technical elements means creating Peer Gynt has been a huge undertaking for everyone involved. However, the actors say that because of the extensive research and preparation done beforehand, it鈥檚 been mostly smooth sailing.聽
鈥淚 think the thing that鈥檚 making the ship float is the amount of preparation that was done before we even got into the room,鈥� says Wilcott. 鈥淏ecause Alistair鈥檚 been working on the show for years now, he鈥檚 been delightfully prepared and a wonderful resource for us.鈥�
Newton says this was no accident. He wanted the actors and crew to have the experience of being in large-scale production with many moving parts. 鈥淚 like to push at the edges of what is achievable in terms of stagecraft, and the way to achieve that is through preparation,鈥� he says. 鈥淐oming out of a pandemic, doing a big, bold, spectacular piece that could only happen on the stage is really worth doing鈥� it鈥檚 a celebration of the theatre, and what makes the theatre so special.鈥澛�
Buy tickets at the Dal Arts Centre box office or at dal.ca/artscentre.
