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Description
In the project “Peer Gynt Travels”, a set of complementary creative and educational forms will be prepared and implemented through which Norwegian culture will be promoted. A presentation to the public and to a wide academic audience of works of the most iconic representatives of Norwegian dramaturgy and music are planned. Seminars will be held (in Bulgaria and Norway) with academic audience and workshops on Ibsen texts and images will take place. A new performance on the dramatic poem "Peer Gynt" by the "father of modern theater" - Henrik Ibsen - will be created and staged, with an interpretation of the music of the renowned Edvard Grieg. A documentary on the modern approach to Ibsen and the process of creating the production and its presentation will be made. The film will be screened after each of the seminars. A strategy to attract the audience will be developed and part of the theater team will be trained in that regard. The play "Peer Gynt" touches on existential topics for the human nature-about the Self, the choice, the eternal search, the devaluation of the human face before selfishness and the catharsis by realizing the most valuable in life. The play will be presented to Bulgarian public in small settlements: Dositeevo and Izvorovo villages (Harmanli Municipality); Haskovo District; Korten village (Nova Zagora Municipality, Sliven District); town of Dobrinishte (Bansko Municipality, Blagoevgrad District); in peripheral areas/neighborhoods in towns, municipal centers – Sofia City, Municipal Cultural Institute – Iskar Culture House (Iskar District), Municipal Cultural Institute – Nadezhda (Nadezhda District); town of Sliven – at the Tuida fortress outside the city center; town of Harmanli –community center stage, outside the city center; on the Sofia Theater’s stage and a festival in the town of Bergen (Norway). This project will allow a new and diverse audience to get access to culture, to experience and become involved with the new theatrical performance.
Summary of project results
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to improving the socio-cultural environment by increasing access to culture to reduce social disparities through a complex of creative events and educational activities to promote Norwegian culture. The project aims to present a new interpretation of classical dramatic and musical works, attract new audiences and provide a unique experience of encountering living art. The main cultural product of the project would be a multidisciplinary theatrical performance combining drama, music, dance and modern interactive visualization. The performance should engage the audience through practical involvement in the theatrical creative process, as well as provoke creative and academic debates on the current approach to the classics and its permanence through the prism of modernity.
Sofia Theatre staged a new production of Henrik Ibsen''s dramatic poem Peer Gynt, with an interpretation of Edvard Grieg''s music, specially written for this work, at Ibsen''s request. The adaptation of the work for its stage performance will help to convey the messages of Ibsen''s plays, which were modern for the past century, through the prism of current reality and the undoubtedly changed perspective, so that these universal messages can be understood and felt by the modern viewer.
The new production "Peer Gynt" was presented on the stage of the Sofia Theater and on tour in a total of 7 different settlements from 5 different administrative regions in Bulgaria, including 4 small towns, as well as in 4 peripheral neighborhoods outside the urban centers of the city of Sofia, the town of Harmanli and the town of Sliven. The total number of performances played is 24, including in Norway - at the Chateau Neuf student theater, outside the city center of Oslo, where the production was presented as part of the events of the largest student festival in the city. Information about the new production staged by Sofia Theater and the performances included in the IbsenStage information database: https://ibsenstage.hf.uio.no/pages/event/101586.
Three seminars on the topic "Approach to Ibsen and Peer Gynt - interpretation and theatrical experience" were held under the project – 1 in Oslo and 2 in Bulgaria. The seminars have provided an opportunity for direct discussions and sharing of different views on the modern view of Ibsen''s dramaturgy and the work "Peer Gynt" by representatives of Theater Sofia and from academic circles - students and teachers from various educational institutions, including the Norwegian partner – the Center for Ibsen Studies at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Oslo.
Summary of bilateral results
The participation of the Ibsen Research Center as a partner in the project was essential for achieving the most up-to-date, contemporary sound and world-class quality of the new production based on Ibsen''s text. The partner participated in the adaptation of the text for the performance, as an institution that has established itself as the most significant research, teaching center in research, including digital and the latest studies related to Ibsen''s work and the history of theater. Their expertise and modern knowledge contributed to the new production and the seminars reflecting the modern global view of Ibsen''s work and world trends in literary and theater studies.