Peer Gynt
At the La Jolla Playhouse, adapter/director David Schweizer trimmed Henrik Ibsen's evasive masterpiece to two hours and only five actors. The results, though often funny, feel like a performance of the Reduced Ibsen Company. A liar, a braggart, a corner-cutter, Peer "lives for himself alone" (Ibsen said he's based on Norwegian male selfishness). The coproduction with Kansas City Rep is always inventive. The props are humble. But the play has a wild, soaring, epic sweep, and the "found" items diminish the text. All five performers are quite good. They work in different styles and use modern slang. These choices illustrate Ibsen's astonishing range. But much of the humor comes outside the text, and too often the players swap cute for deeper resonances. What the actors will do next upstages what the play is doing.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, July 24, 2011
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 7pm |
| Tuesdays, 7:30pm |
| Wednesdays, 7:30pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 2pm & 8pm |