Doubtless many might find it an acquired taste, but this version of An Enemy of the People remains a brave, praiseworthy effort to revitalise the original text, full of talent, provocative originality, and life.
‘A thing of pure beauty but fails to stir the heart’: ROSMERSHOLM – West End
Neil Austin’s lighting design in Rosmersholm at the Duke of York’s Theatre is a thing of beauty and Hayley Atwell is excellent but Ibsen is still Ibsen…
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Rosmersholm at Duke of York’s Theatre
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Rosmersholm at Duke of York’s Theatre, a new adaptation of Ibsen’s play.
‘Strong & serious but Rosmer got in the way’: ROSMERSHOLM – West End ★★★
I wanted to be more engaged with the fierce fin-de siecle political play that is Ibsen’s Rosmersholm, but Rosmer got in the way.
NEWS: Alex Kingston in gender-switch production of An Enemy of the People & Assassins revival are confirmed for Nottingham Playhouse autumn season
Award-winning actress, TV and film actress Alex Kingston will take on the lead of Dr Stockmann in An Enemy of the People from 13 to 28 September 2019 (press night is 17 September) as part of Nottingham Playhouse’s autumn season.
‘Uneven account’: THE LADY FROM THE SEA – Print Room at the Coronet
The Lady from the Sea, rarely performed in the UK, is a fascinating and alluring play, but this production from Norwegian Ibsen Company provides an uneven account.
NEWS: Tom Burke & Hayley Atwell will star in Rosmersholm at the Duke of York’s Theatre
Tom Burke and Hayley Atwell will star as John Rosmer and Rebecca West in Ian Rickson’s new production of Rosmersholm, Ibsen’s classic study of a country in political flux, in a new adaptation by Duncan Macmillan. Further casting will be announced soon.
‘Ultimately it lands a huge emotional punch’: THE WILD DUCK – Almeida Theatre ★★★★
Though Robert Icke’s didacticism can be irritating, this Wild Duck undoubtedly pulls its modern audience into Ibsen’s tense, spiralling emotions to powerful effect.
‘Still slow cooked, but mmm… delicious’: THE WILD DUCK – Almeida Theatre ★★★★
Robert Icke’s conversational, documentary production of The Wild Duck at the Almeida Theatre makes this complex morality play immediately accessible.
‘The core of the play is beautifully, tenderly, sadly rendered’: THE WILD DUCK – Almeida Theatre ★★★★
Director Robert Icke, most ingenious of re-framers and refreshers, presents Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, a classic of pain and lies, with a touch of meta-theatre at the Almeida Theatre.
NEWS: National Theatre’s new season features Andrea Levy’s Small Island, Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls & Lenny Henry as Richard Pryor
Rufus Norris has unveiled the National Theatre’s plans for 2019 and beyond. Highlights include the world premiere of Small Island adapted by Helen Edmundson from Andrea Levy’s novel, directed by Rufus Norris.
NEWS: The Print Room announces international season, including Don Delillo premiere
Print Room at the Coronet will present a year of outstanding and emotionally vivid new international performance by some of the world’s greatest most creative minds, including Pulitzer Prize winner Don Delillo, Ben Okri, Anthony Neilson and Stephen Dillane.
THE LADY FROM THE SEA – Donmar Warehouse ★★★★
The grounding comes in Kwame Kwei-Armah’s decision to transplant the play to 1950s Caribbean and in the casting of Nikki Amuka-Bird as Doctor Wangel’s second wife, Ellida giving her racial difference added weight as the family outsider and to her feelings of restlessness.
THE LADY FROM THE SEA – Donmar Warehouse ★★★
Nikki Amuka-Bird is captivating as Ellida, and Ellie Bamber as Hilde and Helena Wilson as Bolette are wonderful as the daughters, their strength, intelligence and humour tempered with the fragility of living in a world owned by men.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Hedda Gabler at the National Theatre
Ruth Wilson takes on the leading role in this Ibsen classic, radically reinterpreted in Ivo Van Hove’s debut production for the National Theatre. It runs in rep in the Lyttelton Theatre until 21 March 2017. What have critics made of it?
HEDDA GABLER – National Theatre
In this new version of Ibsen’s play by Patrick Marber, director Ivo van Hove has the equally extraordinary talents of Ruth Wilson leading his company. And as with his revelatory A View From The Bridge, this is a contemporary reworking of a classic that will frustrate some with its froideur but left me gasping at its gut-wrenching rawness.
HEDDA GABLER – National Theatre
Of all Ibsen’s creations, the strangest is Hedda Gabler. Rarely has she been more alarming, yet more credible, than in Ruth Wilson’s stunning performance under Ivo van Hove.
NEWS: Rafe Spall joins Ruth Wilson in National’s Hedda Gabler
Further casting has been announced today for the National Theatre’s upcoming production of Hedda Gabler, with Rafe Spall returning to the stage to join leading lady Ruth Wilson in the modern version of Ibsen’s classic.
Weekly Theatre Podcast: The Master Builder, Hand to God, Mrs Henderson Presents
This week the London theatre bloggers – including syndicate Mates Johnny Fox and Laura Kressly – discuss The Master Builder starring Ralph Fiennes, the musical adaptation of Mrs Henderson Presents, Broadway puppet transfer Hand to God, and Off-West End, Weald, just finished at the Finborough Theatre.
THE MASTER BUILDER – Old Vic
Halvard Solness is afraid. He’s afraid of young people displacing him, and heights. But he is revered as the master builder of his town, a self-made man with luck on his side. The middle aged, unwell Halvard is surrounded by similarly unwell people: a wife who never recovered from past losses, a dying employee and […]