'Peer Gynt': Clug at La Scala with the Nordic dreamer

There seems to be no authentic, credible and thought-provoking existence in static, limited horizons, in a world closed in on itself. These are some of the traits that innervate Henrik Ibsen's well-known 'Peer Gynt', a dramatic poem from 1867 in which the laceration of a man ceaselessly plunged into problematic or absurd situations is at work. One is, as it were, immersed in the path of that inconstancy that apparently brings into vogue German philosopher Karl Jaspers' "all-encompassing": "that which always and continually announces itself to us [... and which] is the source of everything else". An assertion that, at first sight, seems to justify the unsuccessful vicissitudes of our protagonist who is adept at going beyond limits and balances in favour of "ever new extensions".

Certainly complex yet inescapable issues that today return to questioning thanks to the dance performance of the same name created in 2015 by choreographer Edward Clug for the Ballet of the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor and now in the repertoire of La Scala, the tenth European theatre for which it is being staged. A work played around the well-known text by Ibsen and modulated on Grieg's score here proposed with interpolations taken from his other works, giving structure to a solid and credible pièce. It is a new and coherent vision of the many vicissitudes of this complex dramatic character that Clug proposes by combining choreography, music and words. Marko Japelj's sets, Leo Kulaš's costumes and Tomaž Premzl's lighting are essential cornerstones in this production that opts for the circular movement of the ellipsoidal street in the first act and the vast, apparently empty space of the second act that seems to drag the legendary figure of Nordic folklore "in all senses towards infinity", as Jaspers would say.

With a choreographic sign that is never didactic, Clug narrates the vicissitudes of Peer, adopting a phrasing in dance that is preciously adherent to the musical pages selected here, demonstrating full awareness of both the writing and the composition dedicated to the Nordic dreamer. Thus the stable presence of the white stag entrusted to a sprightly Emanuele Cazzato, the energetic sign that Marco Agostino delivers to the blacksmith Aslak, the nonchalant acting verve of Andrea Crescenzi's Death, and the credible character of Maria Celeste Losa in the bizarre image of an unreal woman in green, are some of the elements that make the result robust and the performance of the La Scala company excellent. If gifted with a palette that leaves nothing out is Navrin Turnbull as the protagonist, Alice Mariani gives the character of Solveig bewitching expressiveness. Worthy of mention for elegance and malice is the scene of the three malgare, for incisiveness the scene of the trolls, for poetic flair the journey in the second act. Well-founded, then, are the choreographic traits and the theatrical symbolism that Clug employs in this narrative yet dreamlike performance on stage until 18 April.