Ibsen Was Right
Rating: 2
Peer Gynt
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
"Get ready for a wild, hilarious and surreal adventure in this brilliant adaptation of Ibsen's famous play. Based on a Norwegian folk tale, Peer Gynt, one of Ibsen's most influential and famous plays, is almost never staged because of its vast scale. David Schweizer takes this "impossible to produce" play and turns it into a hilarious comic adventure that will delight audiences and take you on a journey you will never forget." That's what the advertising says. Hmmm. I can agree with one thing, I doubt that I will ever forget this evening of theatre. I knew going in that Peer Gynt was not typical Ibsen, but we were intrigued because Peer Gynt has the reputation of being very difficult to produce. I was hoping to see some of the Kansas City Rep's wonderful, magical sets, with an interesting story and great acting, which is what one usually gets from the Rep. But even these fine actors, who did all they could with it, could not save this piece of unfortunate claptrap. Maybe it is the adaptation, maybe it's Ibsen's fault, maybe the Norwegians can't tell a folk tale to save their lives, but even wonderful actors cannot overcome a bad story. No, wait, it's not the plot, because Stephen Schwartz used essentially the same plot for Pippin, and I enjoyed Pippin. So, its not the actors' fault, its not a bad story, so it must just be a bad, boring, unfunny adaptation. Yup, I believe that's it. A big part of what kept me from caring about Peer was the use of several actors to play Peer. Doing so somehow distances us from him, so we have a much more difficult time caring about him or any of his doings. So this raises a couple of questions: a) why produce this adaptation? and b) why produce this adaptation? Ibsen was right, this play ought not to be produced, at least not this adaptation. PS about 20% of the audience didn't come back after intermission.
read the review at KC Stage
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