Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen CALLING, SERENITY AND AURA

 Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen

CALLING, SERENITY AND AURA

 

Peer Gynt seemed rather odd, not at all what I have learned to expect from Ibsen. I see the Norwegian master as an author of dramas, with moral dilemmas and strong conflicts- like in my last reading, before Peer Gynt- An Enemy Of The People, where there is a clear struggle between personal and public good, lies and truth. Present versus future benefits and damages.

Peer Gynt seemed to me a bit light, shallow…but this may very well describe better my attitude, lack of concentration than the work itself.

There is however an aspect that I loved about the production that I listened to. It is an adaptation for the National Radio and had Ion Caramitru, the director of the National Theater no less, in the role of Peer Gynt. Although I respect his activity as head of the UNITER, the Union for Theater in short, I do not appreciate him all that much as an actor.

I remember seeing him play Hamlet, but without too many fond memories…I rather thought the adaptation too long at over four hours.

So it is not Caramitru who turned Peer Gynt around, but the fabulous George Constantin. If we are to talk reincarnation, this actor is the coming back to Earth of Alexander, Socrates, Cesar, Aristotle, Charlemagne and perhaps a few more.

He has a majesty, nobility, CALLING, serenity, aura which I have never seen anywhere else. Indeed, moving on to another ancient religion, George Constantin would be (maybe he was) worshipped as A God.

He irradiates some kind of good nuclear energy- indeed one feels like this is the best source of energy, clean, powerful, penetrating, until you get the other side of the coin. Like the atomic alternative, the energy of this sensational man and actor made him a poignant villain. You could sense and feel the Clear and Present Danger when he was the negative character.

In Peer Gynt, George Constantin plays a magnificent KING- what else?

Witty and funny, he asked the questions; how are they different from humans, proposes a contract and finally becomes the father-in-law of Peer Gynt. “Be only for yourself” is what the king preaches and “Nothing from the Valley”. For this is a fantastic land populated by creatures with…tails.

For this reader, Peer Gynt in the interpretation I listened to, and come to think of it- any other, might as well be called:

THE KING – GEORGE CONSTANTIN-

For he steals the whole shindig and comes out as Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians, the message of the little people is Lost in Translation- by the way, George Constantin had features in common, some of the acting manners of Bill Murray. They shared a gigantic stature, figurately speaking although one is widely known and the other has been only the best actor of a small country- Romania

Spoiler and disclaimer: the sentences above may be just about all I may say about Peer Gynt per se:

-          ‘The rest is silence’ or, if it looks like there is some noise, it may be of absolutely no interest to you. That being said: go on, if you feel in the mood for:

-          “KNOWN UNKNOWNS”

Whenever I find a book is not my cup of tea, I shut down half, most, at times even all of the engines and the ship sails on, wherever the wind is taking it and I take in the breeze, the songs in the background on Mezzo, and then a sentence or two stray in, from the play which is part of this often terrible mix that I have at home: with noisy macaws, guests, borzoi coming in and out of what supposed to be a kind of a bureau, or office space at home- and the music from the classic music channel- albeit I switch on to MTV now and then.

It is perhaps lucky that any book makes it through to a part of my brain, out of this mess. Like now, Puccini, one of my two macaws is in the Mood for Love (excellent movie, in the Cannes selection some years ago). In the evening, he starts talking: Hello! And Hannah! – He is still young, he may add to his repertoire…

But how can one get interested in Peer Gynt, when there’s a major show here…and Amy Winehouse just came on with Rehab, I don’t know the name…but they wanted me to go to Rehab…and I said No, No, No…