Why no chat yet on Ibsen? He was a big thinker! Wrote life and death issues, comedy, romance (say "Lady From the Sea" -- which has the Arnholm/Bolette scene, about as tender a scene as exists anywhere), environmentalist.
Speak of Ibsen.
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Why no chat yet on Ibsen? He was a big thinker! Wrote life and death issues, comedy, romance (say "Lady From the Sea" -- which has the Arnholm/Bolette scene, about as tender a scene as exists anywhere), environmentalist.
Speak of Ibsen.
I am such a huge fan of Ibsen. I read A Doll's House years ago, and just recently read Hedda Gabler and performed in A Wild Duck. It's amazing the different levels of interpretation that can go into his writing. The deeper meanings in A Wild Duck were especially potent to me, as I had to portray them as an actress. I played Hedvig, who seems at first like an 'insta-character' but upon further reading and really considering "What are my goals here? Why am I doing this?" her personality and my understanding of it changed completely.
Wild Duck is done about once every decade, so consider yourself lucky. I saw it done at Oregon Shakespeare. That's a difficult play, for the really serious Ibsenite.
I once played the jerk Torvald, and then 15 years later played the tough-guy Krogstad. Doll House is truly a universal play, very important -- women's lib.
There's a lot more humor in Ibsen than people realize, in even his most serious plays.
Yes, I agree. Ibsen was a great writer. I have only read "A Doll's House" so far, but I really liked it. It was a good read, and I can see why it caused such controversy when it was first written. I especially liked the last scene when Nora finally opens with her husband and leaves him. I honestly agreed with her, because if I were married to someone who treated me like a child, I'd want to leave too. I have started the "Lady From the Sea". I just hope it will be as good as "A Doll's House".
One interesting thing I learned was that Ibsen asked Grieg (great composer!) to write incidental music for his play, and the result was the Pier Gynt Suite, which I thought was really interesting.
The phrase "Nora går" in Norwegian, and translates to "Nora leaves" has become a widely used expression here in DK and Norway. Often in the feminist movements.
Have only read "A Doll's House" - wonderful! Impressed James Joyce and encouraged him to pursue writing, I believe.