© Sebastian Hoppe

PEER GYNT

Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Bürger:Bühne
#Youth Theatre
When: Tue 06.05. 19:30
Wed 07.05. 10:00 | Theater an der Parkaue - with follow-up conversation
Where: Theater an der Parkaue
Recommended for ages: 14+
Duration: 120 minutes, no intermission

About

‘King, emperor I will be!’ proclaims Peer Gynt. He lives in poor circumstances and is treated as an outsider. So Peer dreams himself into other worlds. He experiences wild adventures in his tall tales. And the young daredevil soon manages to cast a spell over people. He travels to faraway lands and becomes very rich. But does his self-created self really make him happy?

We present ourselves to the world on social media and can claim to be whoever we want to be and escape reality like Peer Gynt. Director Joanna Praml explored the dangers and possibilities of digital egos with young people from Dresden. The young ensemble follows Peer's tracks into fantastic parallel worlds in search of themselves.

Joanna Praml and her team develop participatory research work with professional and non-professional performers at various German-speaking theatres. Together with Dorle Trachternach, she creates rewrites of classical material in connection with current issues. PEER GYNT is her third work at the Bürger:Bühne at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden.

Follow-up conversations

Follow-up conversation after the performance on 7 May at 10 am

Credits

with
Henrike Herz
Konrad Neidhardt
Alma Maria Orlamünder
Anton Petzold
Moritz Rogner
Antonia Roschig
Joshua Samaga
Peer Samuelsson
Luisa Wiesener
Eva-Lotta Wuttke

Direction and text: Joanna Praml
Text: Dorle Trachternach
Stage and costumes: Inga Timm
Music: Hajo Wiesemann
Dramaturgy: Christina Schlögl, Lena Iversen
Lighting design: Maximilian Rothe

a production by Bürger:Bühne
with young people from Dresden on a trip through social media
based on Henrik Ibsen
in a version by Joanna Praml and Dorle Trachternach

Vote

Anyone watching a production by Bürger:Bühne Dresden cannot avoid Joanna Praml and Dorle Trachternach. This is where what belongs together comes together: for over a decade, they have been skilfully using classical models as an opportunity to examine their topicality with young people. In this case, we join the ensemble on a journey into a parallel world. Here they can escape reality just like Peer Gynt.

The young players show us what it means today to create a new self on social media. Here they can say what they want and be who they want. In the various texts, it becomes clear how omnipresent this topic is. ‘One post from me and there's chaos in your class!’. It is impossible to imagine everyday life without social media, it dominates our daily lives. Self-presentation on the internet is becoming the focus of many young people: How do I want to look? What do I wear? How do I present myself? What do I post on Instagram? What do other people think of me? This topic, this material, this debate is played, sung and (how could it be otherwise) also shouted by young people with a convincing connection to their everyday lives and supposedly ruthless honesty. And their parents also play along - even if only as voice messages in which they try to bring their children back to reality.

Not only the impressive and overwhelming set is remarkable, which, like the layers of an onion, continues to uncover itself and is professionally staged by the theatre machine, but also and above all the players themselves. The ensemble's infectious energy literally spills over into the audience, not only during the impressive choral passages, making you want to join them on stage (Mariella) or at least be completely absorbed by them (Thilo). The texts, which are composed on stage between original, biographical influences and dynamic relationship constellations, are honest, touching and convincing that the motifs of the original are somehow still contemporary. And in the 120 minutes, all 10 of them prove that they can all somehow find themselves in their own way in the megalomaniac main character who loves to hear himself talk. And we also admit: we love listening to this ensemble.

Thilo Grawe and Mariella Pierza 

Content Note

Content warnings: Sexism and pornography addiction are addressed and ableist and ageist language is used in places.

Notes on sensory stimuli: The use of a drum kit creates loud noises. Fog is used in places.