Peer Gynt

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Edward Clug’s narrative ballet Peer Gynt is a large-scale, visually stunning dance-theatre fantasy full of dramatic tension. The show also stands out with its intricate structural complexity and the ingenious interconnection of its stage elements. Following the tradition of neoclassical ballet storytelling, Clug’s Peer Gynt takes us deep into the realms of intoxicating self-irony, absurdity and surrealism, which are all also reflected in the enchanting melodies and poetic dreams of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s music.

A modern literary classic, Peer Gynt was originally written in 1867 by Henrik Ibsen, who is celebrated as a founding father of modernism in theatre. The five-act allegorical drama tells the story of the downfall and subsequent redemption of the peasant anti-hero Peer Gynt, who was confident that he would succeed in life yet found himself in one misadventure after another. Critics have observed that Gynt was possibly an ironic representation of Ibsen himself.

Grieg composed the musical score for the 1876 stage premiere of Peer Gynt as a play. While Grieg’s score is celebrated as a classic in its own right and contains many beloved passages, some critics say the world invented by Ibsen was different from Grieg’s. In creating his own version of Peer Gynt in a two-act ballet, Clug has merged the two into something entirely new, an allegorical Scandinavian dreamscape with many doors for audience members to walk through. Although this is Clug’s first full-length narrative ballet, he has already wowed audiences with his previous collaborations in theatre.

He received a Special Award for Best Choreography for his collaboration on theatre production Roses for Anne Teresa / Football Stories at the International Theatre Festival MESS in Sarajevo (2011).

Part of the 51st Hong Kong Arts Festival