Scottish star James McArdle takes the challenging title role in a raucous reboot of Ibsen’s epic play.

Peter Gynt is a provocative, raucous reboot of Ibsen’s epic verse play, created by David Hare and directed by Jonathan Kent, in a major co-production with National Theatre of Great Britain.

Scottish star James McArdle takes the supremely challenging role of Peter Gynt, playing him across all the improbable chapters of his life. The Glasgow-born actor made a huge impact as James I in Rona Munro’s The James Plays in 2014. More recently he appeared in the National Theatre and Broadway revival of Angels in America and the film Mary Queen of Scots. He is reunited with David Hare and Jonathan Kent, the team behind the triumphant Young Chekhov season at Chichester Festival Theatre and the National Theatre.

In this radical new version, David Hare kidnaps Ibsen’s most famous hero and runs away with him into the 21st century, transposing him from Norway to Scotland.

Peter Gynt has always set his heart on being special, on being a unique individual, not like anyone else. But when he steals the bride from a local wedding, he sets off on a lifetime journey which will take him to Florida, to Egypt, to a mountain of trolls and finally, only when death approaches, back to his home in Scotland.

Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, a five-act play in verse, was published in 1867. Ibsen rejected the limitations of the stagecraft of his day, writing instead a sprawling, magical realist multitude of scenes exploring the subconsciousness.

The BSL interpretors for this event are Louise Holden and Yvonne Waddell.

Watch the BSL trailer on YouTube. 

Photo Credit: Mads Perch