Peer Gynt House. In 2006, as part of the Norwegian Ibsen anniversary festival, "Peer Gynt" was set at the foot of the Great Sphinx of Giza near Cairo, Egypt (an important location in the original play). The director was Bentein Baardson. The performance was the centre of some controversy, with some critics seeing it as a display of colonialist attitudes. In January 2008 the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis debuted a new translation of "Peer Gynt" by the poet Robert Bly. Bly learned Norwegian from his grandparents while growing up in rural Minnesota, and later during several years of travel in Norway. This
Peer Gynt Ginty", transferred the play to an Irish Civil War setting. It was staged at Dublin's Gate Theatre. In 1969, Broadway impresario Jacques Levy (who had previously directed the first version of "Oh! Calcutta!") commissioned The Byrds' Roger McGuinn to write the music for a pop (or country-rock) version of "Peer Gynt", to be titled "Gene Tryp". The play was apparently never completed, although, as of 2006, McGuinn was preparing a version for release. Several songs from the abortive show appeared on the Byrds' albums of 1970 and 1971. In March 1972 Jerry Heymann's adaptation, called "Mr. Gynt, Inc.", was performed