Peter Gynt (NT)

I don't know why they've not updated the show page, there's a MUCH fuller cast listed in this latest press release: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_season_announcement_march_2019_0.pdf

Bloody hell, is there no-one involved in NT marketing comms that knows that you can't be the "most unique" of anything....

The most cute! 🙂

A play, with added songs. Thus the very long running time. I'm not sure I can take this much David Hare... (and the songs sound awful on the rehearsal videos...)

Did they get Elton in to write it?!

I saw a lonely 15-pounder bang in the middle of row C so what was i supposed to do! Next week; going in blind, no idea what to expect.

p.s. Thanks. what a great clip from Youtube!

The original play runs at least 5 hours if the full text is used so be thankful for small mercies - the NTs indulgence of Sir David Hare in whatever he wants to do stretching back decades is a puzzle. 

I also saw this last night. Overall, it was an enjoyable adaptation of notoriously tricky play. James Mcardle excelled in his transition from boyhood fantasist to resigned self-aware decrepitude. He employed his trademark tip of the tongue delivery to imbue Peter with a sense of devilment. His Peter Gynt had a well meaning clumsy restlessness instead of just being purely callous. The production hit its stride in a visually dazzling Act 2. Both Oliver Ford Davis and a drole Guy Henry provided excellent support.

What time did it finish last night, andrew?

The modernisation on the whole works maybe with the exception of the Trolls as maybe could have been interpreted with more of what we now consider trolling.

It is a long play even with the editing and the overall self help, finding yourself, mindfulness themes you come away with the feeling it was too convoluted to get the message across, a bit like the Pain of Salvation (niche Prog Metal band) album B E which I got really into a few years back with similar themes until I finally realised the whole concept is encapsulated in the title.

On the plus McCardle is excellent and manages to keep you engaged in his journey especially as he is often on his own on the vast Olivier stage, not sure if his performance would be dwarfed the further away from the stage you are as I was in Row D which was perfect.

Oooft on the Telegraph review

Got to see this tonight. Having originally bought a £32 ticket up in the Circle as the tickets for the front stalls had sold out when the priority booking period opened, thankfully, with a bit of lurking on the NT site a few weeks ago, I managed to swap it for a £18 stalls front row ticket for this performance. It’s a shame that there were plenty of unsold seats in the auditorium tonight as in my opinion it is a very good production. Having seen a modern take on the original text done last year at the Liverpool Everyman as part of their REP season, I was interested in seeing how the NT would tackle this play.

Certainly I thought this production was very well done and David Hare’s version held my interest for the 3hrs 25 mins tonight. I thought that the first Act running at around 80 mins could of done with having an interval of some sort so that I could stretch my legs.

I thought the use of the musical segments had mixed results. While on the whole I actually enjoyed them as part of the crazy fantasy element to the plot, I think they could of been cut and it wouldn’t have made the production any poorer for their absence. The one I thought that didn’t particularly work well was Guy Henry’s number which I couldn’t buy into.

Casting wise, James McArdle was just brilliant in the role as Gynt. For me, he was at his best during the more emotionally charged scenes, particularly with Anne Louise Ross as his mother and his exchanges with Oliver Ford Davies in the final Act.

Once you strip the fantasy element away ( some patrons I was talking to during the interval, made comparisons to the Life and Times of Walter Mitty film), I thought the philosophical messages came across well at the end.