Theatre you feel in your body

What a magical experience it was to see this year's production of Peer Gynt at Gålå last night!

Picture this: a stage beside Lake Gålåvatnet, the mountains as a backdrop, a starlit sky as a chandelier, cold evening air against your skin and trolls emerging from the forest. This is not theatre you watch – this is theatre you feel in your body.

You don't need to understand a word of Norwegian to be swept away. The magic of the outdoor stage, the music and the performances speak their own language, making this an experience that moves you – no matter where you come from.

Peer Gynt – from a boastful liar in Gudbrandsdalen to world literature

The story told on stage is every bit as powerful as its surroundings. Peer Gynt lied about his hunting exploits in Gudbrandsdalen 200 years ago. Today, he is world literature.

This is a playful production based on Ibsen's text, with life's great questions at its core. The play is not about being true to yourself – quite the opposite. Towards the end, Peer peels an onion, layer by layer, searching for his core. He finds nothing. Only layer upon layer upon layer. What is the moral? You do not find yourself within yourself – you find yourself in another's faith, hope and love. Solveig has waited for him all her life, and it is there, cradled in her lap, that he finally becomes something.

Ibsen wrote the play in 1867, far from home in Italy, yet he touched on something so universal that we still recognise ourselves in the text 150 years later.

Thorbjørn Harr plays Peer Gynt for the first time

This year, Thorbjørn Harr plays Peer Gynt for the very first time – and what a superb Peer Gynt he is. One of the best I have seen so far!

Remarkably, this year the production team has unearthed two scenes from Ibsen's own drafts that have never been performed before, making this year's production a world premiere.

Experience Peer Gynt where he truly belongs – here in Gudbrandsdalen!

Would you like to experience this magnificent production next summer? Book Peer Gynt packages for 2027 at Skåbu Fjellhotell!