Super-Per
Super-Per (1994)nby Baktruppen is a compilation of the highlights of Baktruppen’s life as Peer Gynt. In 1993 Baktruppen produced five versions of Per, you’re lying. Yes! in five different cities.
"By bringing the themes of Gynt to a dead end as a starting point, for so to produce five different productions in five different cities, Baktruppen’s ability to face reality was truly improved ", described Baktruppen.
Information
(Objekt ID 10318)| Object type | Production |
| Premiere | March 12, 1994 |
| Produced by | Baktruppen |
| Coproducers | BIT Teatergarasjen, , Hebbel am Ufer, , Zürcher Theater Spektakel |
| Based on | Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen |
| Audience | Youth, Adults |
| Language | Norwegian and English |
| Keywords | Performance, Theatre, Post-dramatic theatre, Multidisciplinary, Cabaret, Multimedia, Rock |
| Running period | March 12, 1994 — January 3, 1999 |
| Duration | 1 hour |
| Website | Baktruppen |
Requirements to venue
| Blackout | No |
Super-Per by Baktruppen has a cabaret-like form. In 1993 Baktruppen took the name Peer Gynt and bought ocean blue contacts used by the performers in the production. The performers told their own anecdotes from the life of Peer/Per’s life, for instance about the time when he went to New York to buy all the Elvis stamps he could possibly find.
Super-Per had many humorous elements and a generous portion of madness, plus the aim of providing the audience with the feeling that here anything could happen. The performers told stories and danced, and all emotions were overdone and given a comical effect.
The first Per du lügst. Ja was an erotic education show performed in Frankfurt. Next the company travelled to Norway to study its own origins. In Per du lyver. Ja!, the second version, Per was a used cars salesman selling a Toyota Corolla. In Zürich Per Gynt installed a radar atop the venue. Every time a boat entered the alarm zone, a toot toot sounded. Next was Hong Kong, "a completely happy state" to perform Per you're lying. Yes!. In the fourth version Per du lügst. Ja was performed in Berlin, where Baktruppen grew beards, danced folkloric dances and gave lectures in the conditions for love after the last Ice Age. Eventually, in the fifth version, Peer was invited to Antwerp. There Baktruppen established a rock band and opened Institute of Happiness Research, with fireworks and flowers.
When Baktruppen came home to its own name Super-Per was already there. In the words of Baktruppen: "In Norwegian it is called Super Per? which then means: Is Per in Paradise?. Will he go to hell? Tired with questions Per went the narrow path to the deep North where he met fishermen, soldiers and women. He stopped lying and the production became a love affair."
Super-Per was supported by The Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs/MFA.
Sources:
Knut Ove Arntzen and Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk, ed. (2009). Performance art by Baktruppen. First part. Oslo: The publishing house Kontur forlag
Baktruppen, 31.12.2010, http://www.baktruppen.org og http://www.baktruppen.org/div_htmls/soknad0608.html
Baktruppen’s archive, donated by: Baktruppen, March 2011
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Tone Avenstroup | – Co-creator |
| Erik Balke | – Co-creator |
| Øyvind Berg | – Co-creator |
| Hans Petter Melø Dahl | – Co-creator |
| Trine Falch | – Co-creator |
| Ingvild Holm | – Co-creator |
| Jørgen Knudsen | – Co-creator |
| Gurå Mathiesen | – Co-creator |
| Bo Krister Wallström | – Co-creator |
| Worm Winther | – Co-creator |
| Tone Avenstroup | – Performer |
| Erik Balke | – Performer |
| Øyvind Berg | – Performer |
| Hans Petter Melø Dahl | – Performer |
| Trine Falch | – Performer |
| Ingvild Holm | – Performer |
| Jørgen Knudsen | – Performer |
| Gurå Mathiesen | – Performer |
| Bo Krister Wallström | – Performer |
| Worm Winther | – Performer |
| The Ibsen Festival | September 1999 |
| International Experimental Theatre Festival | January 2, 1999 |
| Festival Exit | April 12, 1996 |
| London International Festival of Theatre | July 4, 1995 |
| Stamsund Teaterfestival | March 20, 1994 |