The Lady from the Sea

Synopsis

Ellida, the Lighthouse Keeper's daughter, is homesick for the sea. Her life with her husband Dr Wangel and his daughters leaves her restless. Then, on a hot, brilliantly clear summer morning life changes...Ellida Wangel's mysterious seafaring lover has returned after many years to reclaim the woman to whom he believed himself to be betrothed. With piercing eyes he exerts a mesmerising hold over all whom he encounters. Yet, he is a man with a past, a murderer, a man of the sea. What is Ellida to do? Whom should she choose? The husband who loves her and is prepared to grant her freedom or the enigmatic man with whom she shares the same watery affinity. A man who holds a 'horrible unfathomable power' over her mind. Yet Ellida's mind is like the sea, it ebbs and flows and finally reaches its own firm conclusion. The Lady from the Sea (1888) represents an important turning point in Ibsen's work. Within a few days of its publication Edmund Gosse wrote 'There is thrown over the whole play a glamour of romance, of mystery, of landscape beauty...moreover, after so many tragedies, this is a comedy...the tone is quite unusually sunny, and without a tinge of pessimism.' This play explores the hypnotic hold one person may gain over another. It is an emphatic defence of individuality, of inner struggles faced with courage and integrity.

Our Review:

16 May 2003

Here is a theatrical occasion that is auspicious three times over. First, it brings the Almeida - one of the most innovative and consistently strong London producing theatres of the last decade - back home to their Islington base after a closure of over two years, during which time a £7.6million refurbishment and reconstruction took place (See News, 15 May 2003). On that score, the most important thing to report is that the magic of the place is completely intact - though there are welcome new foyer (it's now undercover!), stage and backstage facilities, the theatre looks virtually identical to how we left it.

Second, the production brings actress Natasha Richardson back from New York to the London stage after an absence of more than a decade, since meeting husband Liam Neeson on a Broadway staging of Anna Christie, and subsequently opened the productions there of Sam Mendes' Cabaret revival and Patrick Marber's Closer.

Richar...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.40.0.217) - 5 June 2003:

A brilliant piece of theatre is on at Islingtons Almeida. The new theatre is brilliant and so is this new production from the magnificent Trevor Nunn( in my opinion one of the greatest living directer in the world). I thoroughly admired Richardsons performance, and felt her to be even more powerful than her mother, and it is gret to see that Tim Mcinnery can do serious acting as well as comic. The production has a bit of everything power, emotion, even comedy in places. I do not give it a rating of 5 however because although the play is good it is not a masterpiece, but enjoying nonetheless. The new Almeida is amazing and I cant wait to see the next production of Antony Sher's "ID"....

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