BAM Presents Robert Wilson’s Peer Gynt, a co-production of The National Theatre of Bergen, Norway and The Norwegian Theatre of Oslo, Norway
Pioneering stage director returns to BAM in retelling of Henrik Ibsen’s legendary drama
BAM 2006 Spring Season is sponsored by Bloomberg.
Peer Gynt By Henrik Ibsen Direction, lighting, and stage design by Robert Wilson Music by Michael Galasso
Costume and make-up design by Jacques Reynaud Co-direction by Ann-Christin Rommen
A co-production of The National Theatre of Bergen, Norway and The Norwegian Theatre of Oslo, Norway
Produced in association with Bergen International Festival and The Centennial Anniversary Norway 2005 Ltd
In Norwegian with English titles
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Apr 11; April 13—15 at 7pm; Apr 16 at 2pm Tickets: $25, 45, 65, 80 Call 718.636.4100 or visit www.BAM.org
A Peer [Gynt] in the counterpoint between comedy and slapstick, pantomime and clowning. All in an aesthetic and visual frame on the highest level. – Aftenposten (Norway)
Brooklyn, NY/March 9, 2006—BAM welcomes the return of stage visionary Robert Wilson in a dazzling retelling of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. Among the masterpieces of world literature, this remarkable verse drama by Norway’s famed playwright wittily yet profoundly explores the
more… virtues, vices, and follies common in all humanity as it follows the roguish life of a charming but arrogant young man.
As envisioned by Robert Wilson, with a transcendent score composed by violin virtuoso Michael Galasso (who composed music for Wong Kar Wai’s film In the Mood for Love), Ibsen’s existential masterpiece radiates humor, pathos, and startling beauty.
Peer Gynt will be performed in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on April 11, 13—15 at 7pm and April 16 at 2pm. Tickets, priced at $25, 45, 65 and 80, may be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 or by visiting www.BAM.org.
About Peer Gynt
First published in 1867, Peer Gynt—at once Scandinavian folklore, existential drama, and verse epic—tells the story of a dissolute wanderer searching for the meaning of self by traipsing across the world from Norway to the Americas to Morocco and partaking in various libertine activities in an adventure lasting 50 years. A modern anti-hero in the truest sense, Peer Gynt flees from commitment, is unconditionally self-centered, and has little concern for the sacrifices others make for him.
Wilson’s simple, dreamlike design enhances the play’s inherent symbolism, enabling this funny, bizarre play to visually take on a surreal self-reflection. The stage appears to expand beyond its physical confines, and the characters who inhabit it seem to have one foot in the here and now and the other in the realm of the unconscious.
BAM’s two Ibsen productions this spring (also including the Sydney Theatre Company’s Hedda Gabler), offer audiences an opportunity to experience vastly different contemporary interpretations of his work. It’s a fitting way to mark the 100th anniversary of the great dramatist’s death.
About the artists
Born in Waco, Texas, Robert Wilson was educated at the University of Texas and Brooklyn's Pratt Institute. He studied painting with George McNeil in Paris and later worked with the architect Paolo Solari in Arizona. Moving to New York City in the mid-1960s, Wilson found himself drawn to the work of pioneering choreographers George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, and Martha Graham, among other artists. By 1968 he had gathered a group of artists known as The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds, and together they worked and performed in a loft building on Spring Street. In 1969, two of Wilson's major productions appeared in New York City: The King of Spain (at the Anderson Theater), and The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud, which premiered at BAM.
Robert Wilson’s longstanding relationship with BAM includes the Philip Glass/Wilson epic Einstein on the Beach (1984 and 1992 Next Wave Festivals) and The CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down, Act V-the Rome Section (1986 Next Wave Festival), a work created with an international group of artists, including David Byrne. In addition to his collaborations with Tom Waits/Kathleen Brennan (Woyzeck, 2002 Next Wave Festival) and Tom Waits/William Burroughs (Black Rider, 1993 Next Wave Festival), Wilson also has created works in partnership with Lou Reed, including Time Rocker (1997 Next Wave Festival) and, POEtry (2001 Next Wave Festival). The Temptation of St. Anthony (2004 Next Wave Festival) featured a collaboration with Sweet Honey in the Rock founder Bernice Johnson Reagon. Wilson has applied his unique artistic vision to traditional European operas at houses such as La Scala in Milan, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and The Metropolitan Opera. According to Opera News, Wilson “represents not only a vital American sensibility but one of the supreme theatrical imaginations of our time.”
Michael Galasso is a composer, violinist and musical director born in Hammond, Louisiana in 1949, to a concert violinist father and an oboist mother. He began studying the violin at the age of three and had his solo
debut performing Vivaldi’s Concerto in A minor with the New Orleans Philharmonic at age eleven. Galasso continued his studies at Oberlin and Dartmouth Colleges. He began his career composing music for Robert Wilson's Ouverture (1972), The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin (1973), A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974-5), and The $ Value of Man (1975). Also for productions by Wilson, he has written the score for Ibsen's Lady from the Sea (1998), Strindberg's A Dreamplay (1998), Chekhov’s Three Sisters (2001), and for the theatrical version of Carl Mayer, Hans Janowitz and Robert Wiene's silent film, The Cabinet of Doktor Caligari (2002). In 2004, Wilson and Galasso collaborated on Les Fables de La Fontaine for the Comédie-Française. In November 2004, Galasso and Wilson premiered 2 Lips and Dancers in Space with the Nederlands Dans Theater in Luxembourg. Recent film scores include Wong Kar Wai’s Chunking Express and In the Mood for Love, Babak Payami’s Iranian film Secret Ballot, and Tajikistan’s Djemsjed Osmonov’s Angel on my Right Shoulder. Michael Galasso’s second album for ECM Records, “High Lines”, was released in March 2005.
The Norwegian Theatre of Oslo, Norway (Det Norske Teatret) had its artistic opening in 1913. The founding of The Norwegian Theatre resulted from a national movement that struggled for political, cultural and linguistic emancipation. In the decades towards The Second World War the theatre became one of the leading stages in Norway, famous for its repertoire of new international drama and daring interpretations of classical works. The mission statement for the theater called for the performance of plays in the New Norwegian language of the cities and the countryside. The language on stage at DNT—Nynorsk (New Norwegian)—is built on the different dialects of Norway, and expresses the cultural diversity so important to the theater.
The National Theatre of Bergen, Norway (Den Nationale Scene) is Norway's oldest permanent theater with roots dating back to Det Norske Theater—founded in 1850 by the Norwegian violinist Ole Bull. The theater was founded to develop Norwegian playwrights and Henrik Ibsen was one of the first writers-in-residence and art- directors of the theater. Today the theater houses three stages/venues and presents approximately 20 productions each year, both international and national classics, musicals, contemporary drama, and children’s and family theater. The National Theatre of Bergen is one of three national theaters in Norway and has a strong reputation for staging both contemporary and classical theater. The theater is situated in a beautiful 1909 Art Noveau building, located in the middle of the city of Bergen—Norway's second largest city. The theater employs 150 people and a company of 40 actors. More information: www.dns.no.
Credits BAM 2006 Spring Season is sponsored by Bloomberg. Peer Gynt is made possible by Norwegian Ministry of Culture Affairs, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, OBOS, City of Bergen, City of Oslo, Grieg Foundation, EGD Holding AS, DNO ASA, Sparebanken Vest, Yvonne & Bjarne Rieber, and Stein Erik Hagen.
Major support for Peer Gynt is provided by The Robert W. Wilson Foundation and Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, with additional support from The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Leadership support for BAM Theater is provided by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; The Shubert Foundation; and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Additional support for BAM Theater is provided by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust; Billy Rose Foundation, Inc.; and the Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust. Programming in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House is supported and endowed by The Howard Gilman Foundation.
BAM thanks its many donors and sponsors, including: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Skirball Foundation, The Kovner Foundation, and Robert W. Wilson Foundation. JPMorgan Chase is BAM’s Lead Corporate Partner. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for the Spring Season. Yamaha is the official piano of BAM. R/GA is the sponsor of BAM.org.
General information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street
(between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. A $21 three-course dinner at BAMcafé is available Fri-Sat for BAM Rose Cinemas ticket holders (day of screening only). BAMcafé is open Friday-Saturday from 5pm-closing. Additionally, BAMcafé is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater performances. (Please note BAMcafé is closed in August and September.)
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue; D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM
For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit www.BAM.org.
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