Brand

Synopsis

Brand, a priest, is the most devout follower of God. Steadfast of will, he will not condone any form of moral compromise, whatever the circumstances. His sole objective is to serve God and save the souls of his people. So powerful are his convictions, he rejects his dying mother and forbids his wife from mourning their son. Is the road of extreme sacrifice and suffering truly the road to God and ultimate salvation?

Our Review:

5 June 2003

For the production that marks, respectively, their return to and departure from the Royal Shakespeare Company, neither Ralph Fiennes nor former artistic director Adrian Noble have taken the easy option. Henrik Ibsen's Brand is a morally rigid, often loathsome, Lutheran preacher trapped in a long and difficult play - a challenge both to act and to stage.

In fact, Ibsen himself never intended Brand to be staged. Written as a "dramatic poem" in 1865, it didn't receive its premiere until 1885, when the unwieldy text required a whopping six and a half hours of performance time.

Noble's production of Michael Meyer's existing translation clocks in at just under three hours (including interval) yet still fails to excise vast tracts of sermonising, particularly in the overly long first half during which Brand, the missionary preacher, returns to the frozen Norwegian north of his unloved loner childhood to be hailed as a reluctant local leader. By co...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (217.57.204.146) - 31 August 2003:

ff = fantastic fiennes...

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