Ibsen’s Ghosts at the Theatre Royal Brighton

The celebrated English Touring Theatre return to Theatre Royal Brighton with a brand new production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts

The celebrated English Touring Theatre return to Theatre Royal Brighton with a brand new production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, adapted and directed by Stephen Unwin. Unwin is widely regarded as one of the country’s best directors of Ibsen’s work.

Ibsen’s masterpiece Ghosts is recognised as one of the greatest plays of world drama. The play is set in Rosenvold, the estate of the Alving family, during the 19th century. The family, including son Oswald, who has returned from Paris where he has enjoying a Bohemian lifestyle, is gathered to dedicate the Captain Alving Memorial Orphanage.
As his mother begins to feel the presence of ghosts from the past around her, Oswald discovers there is more to his mystery illness than he first thought. Only by uncovering the truth can they both be free.

A controversial play, Ghosts confronts a range of issues such as incest, euthanasia, bourgeois hypocrisy, extramarital affairs and sexually transmitted diseases. The play outraged Norwegian society, was violently attacked in the press, and theatres throughout the country refused to perform it. Ibsen was unrepentant about the reaction, however, commenting:
“If it didn’t cause alarm there would have been no need for me to write it.” The play became an important text for the younger generation who were determined to establish a new moral order.

This production is inspired by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, famously known for painting The Scream, who designed extraordinary sets for Ghosts in Berlin in 1906. This will be the first time these designs have been used since the 1906 Berlin production. Together with the stunning costumes, the set perfectly evokes the period of the play.

Celebrated actress Kelly Hunter, whom many will know from her roles in Waking the Dead and Bleak House, leads a talented cast in the central role of Mrs Alving.

English Touring Theatre is the UK’s leading touring theatre company, working nationally and internationally to present stimulating and ambitious theatre. English Touring Theatre works with leading directors, actors and artists to stage a broad repertoire of theatre that is vivid, popular and, above all, entertaining.

Do not miss this gripping and powerful drama when it visits Theatre Royal Brighton from Tuesday 3 – Saturday 7 December. Tickets £10 – £25
www.atgtickets.com/brighton*
0844 871 7650*
*(bkg fee)