Henrik Ibsen

"Before Ibsen, tragedies examined the lives of the aristocracy and upper classes, but A Doll's House was the first serious play to be written in prose about ordinary people in everyday situations. The plot revolves around Nora Helmer who is married to Torvald, an ambitious banker. Initially, the couple seem ideally matched, but as a consequence of blackmail Nora is forced to re-examine her life along with her role as a frivolous, scatter-brained wife."--p....

Halvard Solness is a successful master builder who has acquired both fame and fortune, yet he's convinced his greatness will fade with the younger generation. He is committed to retaining his success, despite its negative effect on others. Halvard Solness is an established architect who is well-known throughout his town. Over the years, his professional life has thrived at the expensive of his family. Despite the consequences, his career has become...

Henrik Ibsen's 1890 drama Hedda Gabler is one of the Norwegian playwright's best-known works and boasts one of the greatest female lead roles in the history of theatre. A new bride, Hedda is bored and disillusioned with her marriage. The reappearance of Eilert, her former lover and recovering alcoholic writer creates havoc in her own marriage to George, a sober academic. When Hedda and George come into possession of the only copy of Eilert's explosive...

Born in Skien, Norway in 1828, Henrik Ibsen has often been referred to as the founder of modern drama and modernism in theatre. Ibsen was widely known as an atheist and political radical, and channeled some of those sentiments into his works. "Peer Gynt" captures humankind's unsure, imperfect and opportunistic nature in many memorable scenes: a portrait so intimate and accurate that the play has become a classic in Norwegian literature. This five...

While vacationing at a spa, a sculptor, who's unhappily married, encounters a former model whose love he rejected in favor of a more successful career. As the pair reconnects, they gradually rekindle their relationship, leading them down a dark and dangerous path. Arnold Rubek is a famous and wealthy sculptor who feels trapped in a mundane marriage. He and his wife Maia are visiting a spa, when he stumbles across a former model named Irena. She's...

John Gabriel Borkman is the second last play of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, written in 1896. The Borkman family's fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to speculate with his investors' money. The action of the play takes place eight years after Borkman's release when John Gabriel Borkman, Mrs. Borkman, and her twin sister Ella Rentheim fight over young Erhart Borkman's...

Collected together here is a selection of six plays by Norway's most famous playwright, arguably one the greatest playwrights of all-time, Henrik Ibsen. In the first play of the volume, "Pillars of Society", Ibsen relates the story of Karsten Bernick, whose ambitious plan to connect his small coastal town by railway is jeopardized when his past comes back to haunt him. In the second play, "A Doll's House", we have the story of Nora Helmer, who has...

Henrik Ibsen's "The Feast at Solhoug" is set at the annual feast to celebrate the wedding anniversary of Margit and Bengt Guateson. Knut Gesling, the King's sheriff, comes prior to the feast to ask for Margit's approval for marrying her sister, Signe. Knowing that Knut can be a brutal and violent man, Margit gives her permission on the condition that Knut can demonstrate he can be peaceful for a period of one year. In typical Ibsen fashion, anything...

Henrik Ibsen, the renowned Norwegian playwright, is celebrated for his influential contributions to modern theater. Born in 1828, Ibsen's early life was marked by financial struggles and personal hardships. However, his unwavering determination and artistic talent propelled him to become one of the most prominent figures in the world of drama. Ibsen's works, including "A Doll's House," "Hedda Gabler," and "Ghosts," challenged societal conventions,...

When Dr. Stockmann discovers that the waters of a new public spa are toxic, he expects gratitude and glory. Instead, his revelation makes him the most hated man in town. Henrik Ibsen's timeless story of corruption, pollution and courage opened in David Harrower's powerful new version at the Young Vic, London, in May 2013.