Sep 5-16: "Peer Gynt" with Craig Erickson, Donald Adams

Blackbird Theatre
PEER GYNT
Henrik Ibsen, translated/adapted by Errol Durbach
Vancouver East Cultural Centre
Pay-what-you-can preview Sep 5, runs Sep 6–16

Here's what Craig Erickson says: "Big, theatrical, with Kierkegarde, trolls and strange fallen angels. Excellent translation of Ibsen's classic."

You saw Craig in a memorable turn on the PT stage when he played the younger preacher in GOD'S MAN IN TEXAS a couple seasons back, and most recently in this spring's PRODIGAL SON. You'll see him opposite Alexa Dubreuil in our Canadian premiere of Craig Wright's edgy GRACE next March. On other stages, he got a Jessie nod for his work in Mad Duck's JULIUS CAESAR, and did a fine turn as Stanley in a handsome production of STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Chemainus Theatre, our sister company on Vancouver Island.

Right now Craig is playing the young version of the title character, with Donald Adams (his prodigal father in the aforementioned PRODIGAL SON) as the not-quite-as-young-but-I'm-sure-still-youthful-manly-and-virile version of that same character, in Blackbird Theatre's PEER GYNT. The one-year-old company aims to cast Vancouver's best actors in classics of the theatrical repertoire: an exquisite debut production last fall of Schiller's little-seen MARY STUART was followed by Harold Pinter's THE BIRTHDAY PARTY featuring with our own Anthony Ingram as the not-so-lucky birthday boy (great photos of both productions at the Blackbird website).

Here's what the 'birds say about their latest: "Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is a comic and dramatic feast for the mind and heart, a great folk epic with a large cast of characters, and a fantastic voyage around and through to the centre of man’s being. Peer’s picaresque adventures have enchanted audiences for more than a century. Blackbird Theatre presents the professional Vancouver premiere of a brilliant new translation and adaptation by Errol Durbach that raises questions about modern life. Come discover a Peer Gynt for the new millennium."