Eliconie

Peer Gynt – embarking on a voyage of discovering Ibsen, Grieg and my own interpretation of their art.

Peer Gynt is undoubtedly one of the most complex drama characters that has pointed out Ibsen as one of the leading playwrights of the 19th century. Grieg is, on the other hand, one of the key representatives of the subtle Nordic music idioms and romanticism in general.
As it is known, both artists entered a successful joint collaboration to stage Ibsen’s verse play Peer Gynt in Christiania (today’s Oslo) in 1876. For this occasion, Grieg wrote some of his incidental music, from which he later extrapolated some movements and rearranged them into two orchestral suites that are still very popular today.
During my research of Ibsen’s text and Grieg’s music, I have had to overcome a series of problems, in order to merge both of the worlds into a contemporary ballet novelty Peer Gynt. Ibsen’s verse drama inherently anticipates its own universality through hermetic depictions of the real world and Peer’s fantasy, while Grieg’s music, independently from Ibsen’s drama universe, evokes impressionist landscapes in its own right.
In other words, Ibsen and Grieg have both invented their own version of Peer Gynt. My aim was to resolve certain obstacles, i.e. limitations of both versions and their supposed incongruence, in order to invent my own interpretation. The ballet performance you are about to see, is in chronological sense closely linked to Ibsen’s narrative.
However, when creating a new libretto, I closely examined not just Grieg’s incidental music Peer Gynt, but also some of his most acknowledged concert, chamber and solo pieces, which are an integral part of my music selection. The main reason for such a decision was to stimulate a dynamic and coherent development of the ballet narrative.
Ibsen’s and Grieg’s artistic worlds are thus merged into a new whole, into a landscape with many doors. I have picked mine, which are widely open for you, dear viewers, and I invite you to step through them into a new ballet experience.

Edward Clug

PEER GYNT
A contemporary ballet in two acts

Libretto: Edward Clug after the eponymous verse drama by Henrik Ibsen

Music: Edvard Grieg

Conductor: Simon Robinson
Piano solo: Maja Gombač
Choreographer: Edward Clug
Costume designer: Leo Kulaš
Set designer: Marko Japelj
Sculptures: Ivo Nemec, Milena Greifoner
Assistant to choreographer: Matjaž Marin, Miloš Isailović

Starring

Peer Gynt: Miloš Isailović
Solveig: Evgenija Koškina
Death: Gaj Žmavc
Åse, Peer’s mother: Tanja Baronik
A deer: Sytze Jan Luske
Ingrid, the bride: Tijuana Križman Hudernik
Aslak, the blacksmith: Sergiu Moga
Woman in green: Tetiana Svetlična
Mads Moen, the groom: Matjaž Marin
Anitra, daughter of a Bedouin’s chief: Asami Nakashima
Little Helga: Alena Medič*
Begriffenfeldt, a doctor: Sergiu Moga
Four lunatics: Tetiana Svetlična, Mirjana Šrot, Matjaž Marin, Tiberiu Marta
Three dairymaids: Klavdija Stanišič, Blaga Stojčeva, Hristina Stojčeva
A troll chief: Vadim Kurgajev

Slovene National Theatre Maribor
Slovenska ulica 27
2000 Maribor
Slovenia
http://www.sng-mb.si/