Peer Gynt figure quite so exuberant, outrageous, vitalistic as Peer Gynt. He merely "seems" initially to be an unlikely candidate for such eminence: "What is he", we say, "except a kind of Norwegian roaring boy?" – marvelously attractive to women, a kind of bogus poet, a narcissist, absurd self-idolator, a liar, seducer, bombastic self-deceiver. But this is paltry moralizing – all too much like the scholarly chorus that rants against Falstaff. True, Peer, unlike Falstaff, is not a great wit. But in the Yahwistic, biblical sense, Peer the scamp bears the blessing: More life. On 5 January 1867 Ibsen wrote to Frederik
Peer Gynt New London Sinfonia performed the complete incidental music using a new English translation commissioned from Beryl Foster. In the performance, the musical elements were linked by an English narrative read by actor Samuel West. From June 28 through July 24, 2011, La Jolla Playhouse ran a production of "Peer Gynt" as a co-production with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, adapted and directed by David Schweizer. The 2011 Dublin Theatre Festival presented a new version of "Peer Gynt" by Arthur Riordan, directed by Lynne Parker with music by Tarab. In November 2013, Basingstoke Choral Society (directed by David Gibson, who also