![]() ![]() Famously, the King of Sweden saw it and told Ibsen it was not good, to which the playwright replied, exasperated, “Your Majesty, I had to write Ghosts!” Over the next several years it opened in Sweden, Berlin, Denmark, Norway, London, and New York. No Scandinavian theater would stage it, so it premiered at the Aurora Turner Hall in Chicago, Illinois on May 20th, 1882. ![]() Ibsen penned the play in 1881 while living in Rome. Ibsen actually didn’t like the translation of “ghosts,” chosen by the first English translation William Archer, for the Danish word more accurately translates as “things that walk again.” However, that longer translation-along with the proposed alternative “The Revenants”-was ungainly and were thus not used. The “ghosts” of the title are metaphorical, referring to outdated traditions and the lingering strains of the sins of the father that continue to “infect” their offspring. Horror fans will be disappointed to learn that there are no spectral figures commonly identified as ghosts in Henrik Ibsen’s groundbreaking stage drama Ghosts. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |