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Little Eyolf

Jermyn Street Theatre, Inner London
From: Tuesday, 3rd May 2011
To: Saturday, 28 May 2011

Our Review:

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Synopsis

Exploring the tension between personal responsibility and high expectations from life and delving into themes of change and the quest for redemption, Little Eyolf was described by George Bernard Shaw as a tragedy that �tempts us in spite of ourselves�. Eyolf is a nine year old boy on crutches. His ambitious father, Alfred Allmers, returns from the mountains with a new determination to cease his life�s work as a writer and dedicate his passions to his son. His life and his relationship with his wife is irrevocably damaged by Eyolf�s drowning. In the aftermath, the parents sink into recrimination and guilt, and then attempt to rise in a spiritual rebirth.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 6 May 2011

Ibsen’s heart-breaking Little Eyolf is a tough call for actors and audience alike. But for Imogen Stubbs, who has recently gone public about her separation from Trevor Nunn, it must be strangely cathartic to play Rita Allmers, whose ten-year marriage has been undermined by weeks of separation and a husband’s obsessive work ethic.

The most extraordinary thing about this extraordinary 1894 play is that a child has wrecked the relationship between Rita and Alfred: little Eyolf fell off a table when they were making love, and the crippled nine-year-old, whom we see in the first act dressed as a toy soldier, hobbling on a crutch, is drawn to the deep by the Rat Wife.

This mythological hag, fearsomely intoned by Doreen Mantle, asks if there is “any troublesome thing that gnaws in this house.” Eyolf is “the living wall” that divides a marriage. But Eyolf is also Alfred’s half-sister, Asta, who loves him deep...

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