Peer Gynt at the Delacorte Theater

The Peer Gynt Festival of Gudbrandsdalen, Norway presents Peer Gynt, by Henrik Ibsen, at the Delacorte Theater from 5 - 7 Oct 2006.

Peer Gynt is the son of the once-highly-regarded Jon Gynt. Jon Gynt spent all his father's money on feasting and living high, until there was nothing left, and he had to go from his farm as a wandering salesman, leaving his wife and son behind in debt. Ase, the mother, wished to raise her son to wield and restore the lost fortune of his father, but Peer is soon to be considered useless for practical tasks, somewhat of a poet and a braggard.

Directed by Svein Sturla Hungnes, Peer Gynt features Svein Sturla Hungnes as Peer Gynt, Kari Simonsen, Linda Ovrebo, Mari Maurstad, Stein Gronli, Rune Reksten, Karoline Kruger, and Camilla Granlien, who lead a cast of 150.

Performed in English and featuring the Peer Gynt Chamber Choir.

This production of Peer Gynt has been staged outdoors at Norway's Peer Gynt Festival on Lake G�l� every year, drawing sold out crowds of more than 15,000 each season.

The festival began in 1928 to commemorate the centennial of the birth of Henrik Ibsen. Since 1967, the festival has been held every year at the beginning of August and has become Norway's most renowned cultural festival, with a multitude of events and programs offered. Now, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Ibsen's death, this spectacular epic comes to New York City.

Henrik Ibsen (1828� 1906) is perhaps one of the most influential dramatists of all time and has often been called 'the father of modern drama.' Born in Skien, Norway in 1828, he scandalized Victorian audiences with his realistic dramas that revolved around themes like proto-feminism (A Doll's House), marriage and infidelity (Ghosts), and liberal vs. right-wing politics (An Enemy of the People).

Peer Gynt was written in 1867 and is unlike many of Ibsen's plays as it strays from the modern realism he helped develop as an art form and takes place in a world of fantasy.