PEER GYNT

Chamber play version of the Ibsen classic by and withthe living theater legend Roberto Ciulli and Maria Neumann

Roberto Ciulli and Maria Neumann embark on the journey of the Nordic mythical hero Peer Gynt. With this character, Henrik Ibsen created the prototype of a restless dreamer – or even a liar? – who identifies with the fairy tale world and gives free rein to his im- agination. Anyone who, like him, spends a long time at sea succumbs to the illusions created by the clouds. Peer Gynt takes on many roles in his life and in the end has to realize that he is completely insignificant. Everything is a facade. Layer by layer, form of exist- ence by form of existence, he skins himself and yet finds no core. This shakes him, his identity proves to be a construct. In their production for the Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim, Ciulli and Neumann both take turns slipping into the role of Peer, refusing to accept fixed role attributions in their play and exposing this identity construction radically and playfully.
Christine Dössel wrote about it in the Süddeutsche Zeitung: „This »Peer Gynt« is a theatrical fantasy for two people. A kind of dream dialogue between moth- er Aase and son Peer, or perhaps just between two remaining actors who fantasize at night at the canteen or inn table [...] through this overused, indeed often overstaged piece of world literature. Ciulli, unshake- able in his sheer childlike belief in theater, focuses on essence instead of opulence. In an hour and a half, he and Neumann playfully improvisationally switch through the main scenes of this Faustian journey of one who went out to be himself and yet was only ever enough for himself.”