An Enemy of the People; The Schaubühne/Brooklyn Academy of Music; November 6-10, 2013

 Thomas Ostermeier is one of the few German (or continental) stage directors whose productions are invited to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the November production of his recent An Enemy of the People is his third there, all Ibsen plays, preceded by Hedda Gabler in 2006 and Nora (A Doll House), in 2004. By contemporary German standards there is nothing particularly shocking about the many adjustments, some powerful, some indifferent, some foolish, that Ostermeier has made in each of these adaptations, but within the context of American production, especially of Ibsen, they seem radical if not revolutionary.

This content is for our members. Please consider becoming a member. If you are already a member, please log in for access.

Hedda Gabler; Deutsches Theater, Berlin; May, 2013

One of the major events of the Berlin theatre season is the annual May Theatertreffen, featuring the ten productions selected by a jury as the best of the previous year in the German-speaking theatre. Often one or even two Ibsen productions are among this number, but there were none in 2013, although two Enemy of the People productions, both from Berlin, were nominated. On one of the free nights during the festival, however, I was able to attend a major Ibsen event in Berlin, the premiere of a new Hedda Gabler by one of the leading contemporary German directors, Stefan Pucher.

This content is for our members. Please consider becoming a member. If you are already a member, please log in for access.

A Twenty-First Century Ibsen: Vegard Vinge and Ida Müller’s Ibsen-Saga; Oslo (Black Box Teater), Bergen (Det Norske Teater), Berlin (Prater Theater, Volksbühne); 2006-2013

Over the past seven years, Vegard Vinge and Ida Müller’s productions of Ibsen’s plays have deservedly caught the attention of Western Europe’s experimental theatre scene. Their five works to date—A Doll House (2006), Ghosts (2007), The Wild Duck (2009), John Gabriel Borkman (2011), and 12-Spartenhaus (an adaptation of An Enemy of the People, 2013)—are a sprawling, interconnected series known as the Ibsen-Saga.

This content is for our members. Please consider becoming a member. If you are already a member, please log in for access.

Nora or A Doll House; Theatre Oberhausen, Fall 2010/Theatertreffen; Berlin; May 15 and 16, 2011
The Wild Duck; Off-off-off-Ibsen Festival, Oslo, 2010/The Prater; Berlin; May-July, 2011

Ibsen was at one time regularly represented in the Berlin Theatertreffen, the annual spring festival which offers ten productions selected by a jury as the most outstanding of the previous year in Germany, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland.

This content is for our members. Please consider becoming a member. If you are already a member, please log in for access.

John Gabriel Borkman and An Enemy of the People; Berlin Theatertreffen; May, 2012
A Doll House; Maxim Gorki Theatre; Berlin; May 4 – 21, 2012

 The situation of professional productions of Ibsen is today totally different in America and Germany, and neither tradition can be said to be very encouraging for those who love and admire the dramatist. In major United States professional theatres, Ibsen is simply no longer done. The productions are imported from elsewhere, usually England or Australia, and these, though often well acted, are both infrequent and highly conventional. In Germany, the situation is almost reversed, but not to the advantage of Ibsen.

This content is for our members. Please consider becoming a member. If you are already a member, please log in for access.