With the fjord and Østfold as a backdrop, with the Navy Band as a musical powerhouse, Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt was staged outdoors at Karljohansvern late this summer. Altogether there were 10 performances with Kåre Conradi as the lead role of Peer Gynt. Kåre Conradi and the Navy Band have been partners before. Now they’ve joined forces. Twenty members of the Masken Group are also among the cast.
photo credit: Jesper Nordahl Finsveen
pArtistic Director of the Theatre Ibsen, Anders T Andersen, explains the importance to the theatre group to use local resources whenever they can. “We’ve heard good things about the Masken group and we are looking forward to becoming acquainted with the theatre forces this town is obviously full of. Both parties have mutually benefit from this, says Andersen. He’s particularly happy that Corey Conradi has agreed to star in the lead role of Peer Gynt.”
Peer Gynt theatre
“Grounded Peer Gynt” Tønsberg Blad writes “Corey Conradi has been assigned the role of Peer, who is self-sufficient through thick and thin, in everything. He carries the role effortlessly all the way through to the last sentence. Peer is on stage almost constantly, and it’s a real tour de force. Conradi with Sylvia Salvesen (mother Aase) makes her moment of death one of the many emotional moments in the show. It is beautifully done through a little dance, and thankfully not in the sled as we’ve seen so many times before. Conradi acts so that we are spellbound by his storytelling, he lies so well that we believe in him. He is an amazing actor, musical to his fingertips.”
Kåre Conradi
“Humor, insanity and slightly vulgar” Gjengangeren writes “Corey Conradi drives game forward with great energy and unmatched enthusiasm, he engages and moves and makes us forget that we are slightly cramped, that Ibsen uses a long time getting his message across and that the summer is undeniably about to turn into fall.”
Peer Gynt stage
“Moving and lush Peer Gynt” Telemark Arbeiderblad writes “Before the nearly three-hour performance is finished, it is clear that Peer in Corey Conradi’s hardworking character has the ability to engage us once again.”
Peer Gynt cast
“Magnificent premiere of Peer Gynt” Vestfold Blad writes “Kåre Conradi starred as Peer when Peer Gynt premiered on Wednesday night in front of a packed grandstand at Karljohansvern in Horten.”
Artistic director of the Norwegian Ibsen Company, Kare Conradi, will play the leading role in a full scale outdoor production of Peer Gynt this summer in Horten, Norway, alongside a cast of about 40 actors.
It will be in cooperation with Teater Ibsen and the Navy Orchestra, directed by award winning theater / film director – and director of the New Los Angeles Theater Center – José Luis Valenzuela.
“He makes the words his own, not by applying his own signature and outstaging Ibsen’s, but by letting them live through an actor’s body and mind. He engages in the text both naturally and lyrically with a sensitive understanding for Peer and his fate; he identifies with the life-struggle and the characters, and doesn’t use his own humour and irony other than to spice up the short summaries when connecting directly with the audience. In other words, he doesn’t use Ibsen to expose his talent, but his talent to expose Ibsen.
The young actor, who has undertaken several supporting roles at the National Theatre in the past year, has created and performed his solo show for school children. He should keep doing this. The teaching profession would have to look long and hard to find a more inspiring Norwegian lesson than the one he recently held at Torshovteatret. He must be given larger tasks within the theatre. His radiance and handling of words is such a natural talent that you only see examples of on rare occasions.”
Jan E. Hansen, Aftenposten, on Corey Conradi’s one-man-show Peer Gynt
“Corey Conradi is an excellent actor and story teller. In English as well. (…) The show demonstrates that Conradi is an outstanding actor – there are abrupt turns in a wide field of expression, narrative theatre without being hollow or inflated theatrical. This is a showcase where Conradi gets to show his versatility, while we get served the story of Peer Gynt. Everything within an unpretentious hour, executed in very high quality.”
Lesley Riddoch award winning journalist (Scotsman and Guardian), commentator and broadcaster writes “Kåre stars in a one man exploration of ‘Peer Gynt’, as you have never seen it before. This is the first production from the newly founded Norwegian Ibsen Company. Using just one prop and a mixture of monologue and soliloquy Kåre opens up Henrik Ibsen’s classic Norwegian tale in English to a whole new audience. I’ve seen this – a brilliant performance and perhaps the first time I both understood the Ibsen play AND the way it reflects Norwegian thinking.”
We are proud to announce we will be producing the English language world premier of Kare Conradi’s critically acclaimed one-man-show PEER GYNT at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012. An intimate storytelling show leading you through the story of PEER GYNT with a powerful performance from one of Norway’s leading stars of stage and screen.
Saturday 4th to Monday 27th August 2012 at 6pm (excluding 15th and 16th August).
C ECA, venue 50, Edinburgh College of Art, ECA, Lauriston Place / Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh. http://www.cvenues.comBOX OFFICE: 0845 260 1234.
