Our friend Jude has just finished a run in a Dundee Rep performance of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. An adaptation by Colin Teevan of this apparently unstagable play has set it in a contemporary backwoods town full of manic characters and the vile Gynt himself.
It was a fantastic production – if a little lengthy (a bit over 3 hours) – strong direction, great performances and a superb pared back set that exposed all of the back of house elements. The performance started in the bar of the theatre (itself an eighties architectural gem) with a raucous wedding reception (below – Jude is singing) before we trooped into the theatre itself to follow Peer’s adventures.
As it was the last night of the production we headed to the wrap party afterwards, with most of the cast and crew plus hangers ons like ourselves cramming into a tiny one bed apartment till the wee hours. After a lesiurely late breakfast Mike gave us a locals tour of deepest darkest Fife, including a visit to the brooding Zaha Hadid Maggie’s centre in Kircaldy (below) to complement our visit to Frank Gehry’s more playful interpretation in Dundee (top) the previous afternoon.
