The Big I Am at Liverpool Everyman

Who doesn’t love an anti-hero at the centre of a dramatic tale? It’s exciting news that Liverpool’s award-winning Everyman Company, Director Nick Bagnell and the city’s prolific playwright Robert Farquhar are coming together to premiere a brand new take for our times on the story of Peer Gynt.

Relocated to 20th century Liverpool, this new version looks at the big question “is freedom all it’s cracked up to be” as we follow the adventures of a lad living his life and seizing (or missing, depending on your point of view) opportunities around the world.

Ibsen’s boundary breaking play defied genres when first performed in 1867 for being a play in verse (itself highly unusual) that told the story of a man with without any clear sense of direction in his life (aka a bit of a Jack The Lad and all round wastrel). What he lacks in motivation, he makes up for in imagination with the original play both being bound in “real” events and allegory. The accompanying music, composed by Grieg, is  still some of the best-loved classical music to this day.

Flash foward to Liverpool in 2018, we can expect an assault on the senses and an experiential event with this hotly anticipated new adaptation which features vibrant characterisation, comedy and live music. The Everyman promises an experience “more than theatre. This is a life flashing before your very eyes”.

With Robert Farquhar’s recent film Kicking Off winning Best British Independent Feature at Raindance and the indomitable 14-strong Everyman Company continuing to power through four productions in five months which aim, says Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz “to shake it all up and do it differently”, we recommend booking early for The Big I Am.