Peer Gynt: A Jazz Revival

This is the best jazz revival of Ibsen/Grieg's Peer Gynt ever. However, be warned, Ibsen's epic exploration into self discovery, loss and lament that spans two continents and three decades, is in this case delivered by five performers, an overhead projector (replete with felt tip pen acetates), two pairs of socks, a headscarf, two light bulbs and a small cache of musical instruments (including a melodica). This meagre production takes us on a journey through the hall of the mountain king, an endless void and a madhouse where inmates play piano with their feet. This production manages to be epic by ironically embracing the impossibility of the task it has set itself with humour wit and an abundance of raw musical and acting talent displayed by the cast, who plough through the narrative with gusto and humour throughout. If you are expecting a cast of thousands, a Grieg symphony and CGI backdrops, well you don't really get what Fringe is all about. This show is what it's all about; young performers exploring their talents. Catch tomorrow's last performance if you can.

A fabulous late night mash-up of the Peer Gynt story with jazz tinged with Grieg. The original story is just a fairy tale, turned into a surreal play by Ibsen. This version takes the fairy tale and the surreal bits, and gives Grieg's nice and tidy romantic music a rough time. There are all sorts of deliberately raggedy edges to this production, but none of it seems to matter. Switch off the rational part of your mind and go with the flow. A multi-talented cast (even the set designer plays an instrument at times). The near final scene with the onion brings the piece together.

Enjoyable rendition of a famous play with novel use of a projector! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Bravo all who worked on it

The story of Peer Gynt is a weird one to anyone unfamiliar with Norwegian folktales. This treatment of a classic story was brought to life in a highly creative, charming and humour out way. I loved the projections and their primitive simplicity really helped with navigating the narrative. The music at times was super sensitive and the range of instruments played by one actor was really impressive. There were just a couple of times the piano was slightly too loud so the balance slipped a little between music and dialogue. Of course this is a production on a limited budget but that for me is what brings out the creativity, I loved it nearly as much as its sister show Gary Bond’s Balanced Breakfast. There is so much talent on show in both.

A fantastic play that merges Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' with a wonderful jazz performance. The musicians and actors (not a mutually-exclusive term in this play) were clear, compelling, multi-talented, and oft-times hilarious! It was a pleasure to watch, especially as a fan of jazz, and the clever use of the projected background was one of my highlights.

The love with which this was made shines through in every aspect of this production- I had no idea what to expect and found a thoughtful, funny, and energetic adaptation of Ibsen's work, fit to be enjoyed by a long time fan or a complete newbie. The set design, a series of stylized illustrated backgrounds,really adds to the atmosphere of a surreal fairytale and the projector work is genuinely a delight to witness. The cast is working EXTREMELY hard, and in only 55 minutes takes you on a journey full of laughter, intelligence, and spectacle.

Projecting on to actors’ faces was a terrible idea. It could have been back projected if at all. As it was the distraction and the appallingly bad lighting destroyed any semblance of what was I guess intended. The rice I saw bore no relation to the description.. It seems to me that the actors were working hard but we’re unable to make up for the miserable production. I only hope that it improved. Sadly I couldn’t wait to find out. I left.

I was really disappointed: the show did not match the description at all.

Really enjoyed this and came out smiling! A highly entertaining, engaging and creative production. Recommended.
I personally didn't have any problems hearing the dialogue, so I guess they fixed any technical issues.

Sorry team- just not good enough to sell tickets to yet. Needs more rehearsal and if you perform on musical Instruments and sing you need to be able to do it. Looked forward to a jazz version of Peer Gynt. Didn’t get one.

From beginning to end, my smile was stretched from ear to ear - the projector work was gorgeous, and the versatile acting and musical performances were another definite highlight! Absolutely worth seeing, I only stayed a couple of days in Edinburgh and couldn't be more pleased to have spent one of those watching this wonderful adaptation of Peer Gynt!

Based on the show’s description we came along to hear some innovative jazz. What we found was a fairly inaudible and very low-budget performance of the story, with a jangling piano. Other instruments were hardly used and very limited in the skill displayed. The cast had clearly invested time in the production but it just wasn’t very good.

A lovely, intimate show with a great deal of imagination and energy. It was sometimes hard to hear the actors, but this is almost certainly a technical detail that can be addressed. I will definitely be following this company's work

Low budget but never low effort. I could hardly hear the dialogue over the piano, but the performances were expressive enough that I could piece together the story. Everyone involved was clearly having a lot of fun, but likely more so than the audience. Unfortunately, the piano "jazz" arrangement stripped the original score -- one of the greatest works in all orchestral music -- to its most basic, lifeless form.