GHOSTS till 17 February

GHOSTS
Henrik Ibsen adaptation by Frank McGuinness (2006)
Bristol Old Vic
Running time 2h 15m
Review: Stewart McGill, 5 February 2007

Intense, highly charged, up-to-dateRobert Bowman joins Bristol Old Vic this season as Associate Director. The brief includes acting and directing throughout the year. In May he plays Cyrano De Bergerac in a long-awaited revival of the bittersweet comedy. His introductory work at Bristol is a new version by Frank McGuinness of Ibsen’s haunting work Ghosts.

It’s a powerful, intense and highly charged production with Sian Thomas excelling as Mrs. Alving and a tragic Oswald by Sam Crane. In the play the advancing of syphilis tearing Oswald apart mentally and physically serves as a metaphor for the biblical adage “the sins of the fathers shall fall on the children.” The lack of light, of the sun, of warmth is emphasised by Tom Piper’s minimal design in which the Alving’s house is surrounded by a heavy, material fog acting as a barrier to the rays of light.

The stage itself is reduced to a tiny thrust platform bringing everything into sharp focus forestage. At times watching the work I felt that had it been in the adjacent studio the intensity and horror of it all would have been more claustrophobic- somehow in the rather opulent Theatre Royal setting it remains at a distance.

Ibsen in Mrs. Alving, as with Nora in A Dolls House succeeds in creating a realistic persona with contemporary psychology. McGuinness’ text belongs to the present and has an immediate, colloquial sound. It has been a while since GH0STS was last seen and simultaneously early in 2007 there are two exemplary productions, Bristol and London. Sian Thomas has always impressed me with her portrayal of sophisticated yet tortured souls, a really great actress that can often be overlooked in a world of Dames……

GHOSTS opens Bristol Old Vic’s Spring Season with a darkly brooding, haunting and effective realisation of Ibsen’s important play once described as “an open drain; a loathsome sore unbandaged, a dirty act done publicly…..”

Cast
Seainin Brennan : Regine Engstrand
Sam Crane : Oswald Alving
Simon Shepherd: Pastor Manders
John Stahl: Engstrand
Sian Thomas: Mrs. Alving

Creative Team
Director: Robert Bowman
Artistic Associate: Ranya Weisteen
Designer: Tom Piper
Lighting: Ben Ormerod
Sound: Jason Barnes

2007-02-08 09:18:50