Ghosts

Synopsis

Classic drama about a woman's struggle against prejudice and fear written in 1881. On her country estate, Mrs Alving is building an orphanage in memory of her dead husband. As her son Oswald, a successful artist living in Paris, returns home and the Pastor arrives to dedicate the orphanage, it seems she can finally bury the painful memories of her past. But over the course of one day, the dark secrets and unresolved tensions of the past are brutally exposed. The strange and complex relationships that bind Mrs Alving and her son to their maid Regina, her father Engstrand and to the priest Manders come to light - and we discover the shocking truth about her dead husband.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 24 February 2010

Ibsen’s Ghosts is no longer shocking, just very depressing, which is what I most take from Frank McGuinness’ new “version” (who did the translation, then, eh?) directed by Iain Glen with wonderful Lesley Sharp as a fluttering Mrs Alving and startling Harry Treadaway as her stricken, haunted son Oswald.

Glen also plays the sneaky Pastor Manders which in this case is one job too many. His accent is curiously wayward, veering from Scottish Calvinist to Irish Episcopal, and the production, overall, is patchy.

Mrs Alving’s house, as designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis in grey panels and reflective windows, is curiously unlived-in, the architect’s model of the orphanage sitting on a side table like an exhibit.

In a play of ceaseless rain and sudden sunlight, sound and lighting by Richard Hammarton and Oliver Fenwick are too tentative, the stage continuously afflicted with rogue shadows, the rain sounding like ...

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Latest User Review

sc - 17 March 2010:

Michael Coveney says this play no longer has the ability to shock, and, as far as this production goes, I entirely agree. I saw it at a matinee performance with only about a quarter capacity audience, which must be dispiriting for the cast, but even so, the acting was uninvolving and oddly mannered, especially from Lesley Sharp as Mrs Alving. And why was it necessary for Pastor Manders to have an Irish accent, especially one as random as that produced by Iain Glen? The best performance came from the solid Malcolm Storry as Engstrand. Harry Treadaway as Oswald made the transition from spoiled prodigal to gibbering syphilitic too quickly, but this was more the fault of the condensed McGuiness version. This is still a great play which, in a better production, can move the audience to tears. It is a pity that this version is being withdrawn before the end of its appointed run, for I feel it had a lot more to offer, given a chance to establish itself....

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