July-December 2011 Season
Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ibsen & Peer Gynt
Posted by DCA Theater on December 13, 2011 in July-December 2011 Season, Peer Gynt
At the Dec. 5th panel discussion event, we uncovered little-known facts about this famous playwright and his work that we had to share with you. We added a few additional fun facts and hope you’ll enjoy!
10. Henrik Ibsen, hailed as the “Father of Modern Drama,” began his working life as a pharmacist. Perhaps this accounts for the realistic depictions of his characters’ various illnesses…
9. Since 1928, every August in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway, there is a Peer Gynt Festival, which includes an incredible lineup of visual art, music, dance, and theater. If you’re ever in Norway, be sure to visit.
The Musical Stylings of Peer Gynt
Posted by DCA Theater on December 9, 2011 in July-December 2011 Season, Peer Gynt
Submitted by Darren Callahan
Paul Gilvary, composer and musical director for Polarity Ensemble Theatre’s current production of Peer Gynt, had a significant challenge – how best to realize director Jeremy Wechsler’s vision for the Americana influences while staying true to the Norwegian mythology of Ibsen’s rarely done classic. The solution: folk music.
Old Peer vs. Young Peer – The Smackdown!
Posted by DCA Theater on December 8, 2011 in July-December 2011 Season, Peer Gynt
Submitted by Darren Callahan
Having two actors inhabit a single character is not a new phenomenon. Having two actors who play the same role and actually like and respect each other, now that’s news!
Peer Gynt: Post Your Review
Posted by DCA Theater on November 23, 2011 in July-December 2011 Season, Peer Gynt
The wild, globe-trotting adventurer Peer Gynt barrels across the stage in the Chicago premiere of Robert Bly’s high-energy translation of this seldom-performed Ibsen classic. In this adaptation, unencumbered by morals or a sense of responsibility, Peer’s mythic journey is envisioned as that of America itself, from scrappy trickster to imperial power and beyond. The rustic settings and live music reminiscent of 19th and 20th century Americana accompany Peer on a 150-year whirlwind tour of the American psyche.
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from Minneapolis to the Loop
Posted by DCA Theater on November 18, 2011 in July-December 2011 Season, Peer Gynt
Submitted by Richard Engling, the actor who plays Old Peer in Peer Gynt and is the Artistic Director of Polarity Ensemble Theatre
This adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play that we are performing premiered at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 2008 - is by National Book Award winner Robert Bly and is a Chicago premiere. I started going to Robert Bly’s poetry readings back in 1977. He has an amazing intellect. Robert is in his eighties now, and he is still writing some of best poetry of his life. He’s just an astounding human being. I was one of the actors he called in to read scenes when he was working on the Peer Gynt translation for the Guthrie. A few years later, he suggested that Polarity should produce the script. And when I saw what a wild, zany version of this script he’d created, I knew we had to do this.
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