Peer Gynt, widow Aase's only son, lives a miserable life in his mother's house but is well known all over the village for the incredible stories he tells. Once, he claims, he rode a reindeer and on its back managed to climb a mountain to its most dangerous point, where he met the devil, trolls and other fairy tale creatures. Later on, the youngster announces his intention to achieve even more prodigious things. During a wedding party, he manages to steal the rich bride; having seduced and abandoned her, he has no more choice than to hide in the forest. The only people that still support him are his mother and a young girl, Solveig, who loves him. At his mother's death, Peer leaves his homeland and becomes a rich and famous businessman in North America. Crossing the ocean, he meets pirates near the North African coast, escapes into the desert, meets the residents of a psychiatric asylum, and finds the solution for the riddle of the Sphinx Peer Gynt is a national creation, an authentic Norwegian folkloric comedy. Peer's, Solveig's and Aase's story is also one of the greatest myths of world literature, on the same level as Hamlet or Alice in Wonderland. With all its contradictions, its numerous participants, its endless gallery of buffooneries and its endless varieties of staging, 130 years after its first performance Peer Gynt still presents a particular challenge for all those who intend to put it on the stage. After directing numerous classic plays testifying to Shakespeare's and Ibsen's genius, Peter Zadek has an indubitable familiarity with Scandinavian dramaturgy.