Cruising the internet this morning, I came across a fairly hefty piece on the subject of Henrik Ibsen, and yes, you're quite right, he's not exactly a bundle of laughs! Even so, I contemplated the idea of marking him as the second greatest playwright since old Bill Shakespeare! Alas, dear reader, outside of Norway you are unlikely to come across a production of his work. The reasons are manifold but one of them is the reluctance of 'theatreland' to actually produce any of his plays. I used to read avidly the theatre reviews in the 'heavy' Sunday papers to see what was coming but these days I do not bother because the answer is zilch, nada, bugger all! I suppose today the highest theatrical experience you might come across is a production of 'Hamlet', set in a spaceship with a black girl playing the hero and a 'trannie' man playing 'Ophelia'.
Alas for the 'modernistas', the stern and powerful plays of Ibsen do not lend themselves to such 'humbuggery'. They are utterly welded into his 19th century world and yet, 'mirabile dictu', they speak to everyone of all ages. I once had the considerable pleasure of directing a production of 'Ghosts', one of his greatest and most human of plays. He never takes sides in the series of ghastly but all too human predicaments in which his characters become immersed but, unflinching, he holds a mirror up to his audience which illustrates the vagaries and the wonders of human nature.
Another of his great plays that, alas, I never worked on was 'An Enemy of the People' but I did see a superb production of it in London with Damian Lewis in the lead. This is local politics writ large and being 'local' there is nothing bloodier or more vicious. The fascinating thing about this play is that the 'hero', quite properly, comes across as the only 'straight arrow' in a very messy and furious dispute. It is only, perhaps, at the end of the play or afterwards that you begin to discern that perhaps the ego of the 'hero' may have another side to it.
If, and it's a big 'if', you get a chance to see a production of either of those two plays, even if it is as amateur as mine was, I would urge you to go!
Whyaxye,
If you happen by it's now worse for you!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/royals/meghan-markle-and-hillary-clinton-secretly-spent-the-afternoon-together-at-frogmore-cottage/ar-BBWMZ4I?li=BBnbfcL
You have let Her among you!
Posted by: Whitewall | Friday, 15 November 2019 at 20:14