Early ideas for development
Some Ideas for development
As we've discussed before, it can be advantageous to find a clear and strong backbone in our strategy for the music and development, which will also work well with and strengthen the ideas we've had for the performance part.
We’ve previously looked into different things in this regard, and we've talked about a possible candidate in basing it on Grieg's original music for Ibsen's Peer Gynt. I think there are great opportunities here on many levels, and I’ll outline some perspectives on it below.
Even if we use this to a greater or lesser extent, we can also choose how explicit we want the references to be. What I describe below deals mostly with content, so the references don't have to be overly explicit if we want to keep the expression as open as possible.
A big strength of choosing such a stringent musical choice is that it will give the audience a real helping hand in interpreting and understanding the stage expression, and it gives us a great tool to fill the performance with depth and meaning.
A Brief Summary of Peer Gynt:
Peer Gynt comes from a rural and respectable family. His father squandered the family fortune, and it's up to Peer to restore the family's standing. Unfortunately, Peer is a dreamer with a poetic streak, much like his father, and he fails in the role he's been assigned. He flees from all responsibilities whenever things get tough, whether it’s in love, family, or finances. But he embarks on various adventures, both in Norway and abroad, before returning home and facing himself in a final reckoning. This reckoning is quite peculiar, as he has "run away" from everything all his life, but even the devil can't find any serious sin in him—so he can neither ascend nor descend; no one wants him.
Readings and Interpretations of Peer Gynt Relevant to Us:
Some have interpreted Peer Gynt as the archetype of the irresponsible adventurer who can never confront himself or live up to the truth within him. Others see him as a life-enthusiastic adventurer breaking away from the conventions of his time. I think there's something to both readings, and they align nicely with our understanding of Peer Gynt and how we shape The Hunt.
The character of Peer Gynt is largely based on the folk tale hero Askeladden (also known as Clumsy Hans). But Ibsen also pointed out that he based Peer Gynt on the real-life Per Gynt, an adventurer from the 1700s who lived near Vinstra in mid-Norway. Both Askeladden and the historical Per Gynt were immortalized by Asbjørnsen and Moe, who traveled around collecting these stories. As we know, Askeladden always succeeds in his adventures, but the local Per Gynt and his father, historically linked to Askeladden, were failures.
For me, the play Peer Gynt has felt like an exploration of what happens to Askeladden if he’s humanized into the real world with all its obligations and desires pulling in different directions. It becomes a very fundamental question of what it means to live, and how does truth manifest in one's life through it? Peer Gynt fails to restore his family’s honor—he always runs from it. But this is also "original sin" that has passed down through generations, born of expectations rooted in what Norwegians call the "village troll" or "village beast"—unreasonable expectations from entrenched conventions and selfish concerns within the local community (such as not marrying "up" or "down" the social ladder).
Peer Gynt also frequently encounters the "Bøyg," which he "goes around." The Bøyg is also a troll figure, often in the form of a snake, also called the "Etnedal Bøyg." It comes from the fact that Etnedal is a very winding and crooked valley with few inhabitants—a neighboring valley to Vinstra and Gausdal. In the old days, people would avoid it if they needed to go from point A to point B across Etnedal.
Peer Gynt also desires the princess, as Askeladden does—for Peer, it's Solveig. But she comes from a devout Christian family, and his reputation as a womanizer makes the relationship difficult. So, he pursues fleeting love with Ingrid while still holding onto his wish for Solveig. In everything Peer does, he chooses the straightforward, easiest path—not necessarily the wrong one, but the least complicated at the moment—he goes around the problem, or around the’Bøyg”. But the problem doesn’t disappear just because he closes his eyes and "is sufficient unto himself."
In the end, he is left with loose ends everywhere—he has sidestepped all the challenges imposed on him: family expectations, his mother’s death, Solveig’s longing, etc. These are bonds and expectations from the people around him, born of their individual desires and situations—by breaking with their fundamentally selfish demands, he does no direct harm. Even the devil struggles to judge him. But nonetheless, he ends up in a pretty extreme existential limbo and finally falls asleep. He doesn’t die; in principle, he can still wake up and choose to confront these circumstances and turn his ship around—but where would that lead? No judgment is passed on Peer Gynt in the end. For me, Ibsen both anticipates and critiques existentialism in a very exciting way in Peer Gynt, leaving us with some very intriguing and difficult questions.
How Does This Relate to The Hunt for the Gray Gold?
I think we can distill this down in a very fine and simple way.
Petras Nurse and the aging Don+Gnu are the yin and yang of Peer Gynt characteristics.
Old Don and Gnu have the adventurer/Askeladden streak in abundance. They've been on adventures—in their own unique ways—and experienced life in many facets. But there’s still something lurking... a "Bøyg" that each of them has avoided, giving rise to guilt or regret. There’s something that needs to be addressed—a truth they can’t escape before they leave this world.
Petras Nurse is like the troll inside Peer Gynt—he is “sufficient unto himself” to an extreme degree. He prefers not to lift a finger and is happiest when the world doesn't disturb his selfish slumber. But is there also a beautiful core in him? One that can blossom and spread warm winds far and wide? I believe there is—in many ways ;)
The Hunt as Peer Gynt - Retrospective and Not
The start of The Hunt... can be imagined as the beginning of a hunt both forward and backward.
At the start of The Hunt, Don and Gnu are where Peer is at the end of the play. They are in a kind of limbo with a life lived, like Peer, and there’s definitely something lurking beneath the surface that hasn't been resolved. We will understand them retrospectively through events and episodes pointing to unresolved things in their past.Where The Hunt begins, Petras Nurse is at the start of Peer Gynt—he is surrounded by society (Don and Gnu)'s expectations and wishes for him. And that’s annoying—he would much rather "go around the Bøyg." But perhaps he also has something beautiful in him that can transcend any existential hell? After all, we are Don Gnu :-D But with Petras, his character development moves forward—in his interactions with Don and Gnu. Maybe he has a hidden secret—not a deep historical wound, but the opposite—something beautiful he’s too shy to show (maybe he paints watercolors and is too embarrassed to share them with the world? Or he knits cute hats?
gracieabrams
2087
ellievsbear
snowghoul
origamiaround
gamechangershow