Ibsen and the Theatre - Essays in Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Henrik Ibsen's Birth

Sep 20, 2026

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Essays edited by Errol Durbach examine Henrik Ibsen’s theatre through historical, linguistic, performance, and interpretive perspectives. Contributions address Ibsen’s biography-based approach, his reception on the English stage, links with Scandinavian theatre, and his role in modern drama. Additional chapters focus on Hedda Gabler in performance, Ibsen’s language techniques in When We Dead Awaken, and the actor-centered dimension of Ibsen’s stagecraft, culminating in an analysis of the structured world of the late dramas.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages152

Reading Time3 h 54 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Ibsen: a Biographical Approach

Ibsen on the English Stage: The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating

Ibsen and the Scandinavian Theatre

Ibsen and Modern Drama

Hedda Gabler: the Play in Performance

Ibsen's use of Language in When We Dead Awaken

Ibsen and the Actors

The Structured World of Ibsen's Late Dramas

Index

IB SE NAND THE THEATRE EDITED BY ERROL DURBACH IBSEN AND THE THEATRE IBSEN AND THETHEATRE Essays in Celebration of the I5othAnniversary of Henrik Ibsen's Birth edited byErrol Durbach M C Errol Durbach I980Softcover reprint of the hardcover ist edition 1980 All rights reserved.No part of this publication may bereproduced or transmitted,in any form or by any means,without permission First published 198o byTHE MACMILLAN PRESS LTDLondon and BasingstokeCompanies and representativesthroughout the world ISBN 978-1-349-05297-4(eBook) ISBN 978-1-349-05299-8 DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05297-4 Reproduced from copy supplied Contents AcknowledgementsNotes on the Contributorsvii V1 I IntroductionErrol Durbach I 2 Ibsen:a Biographical Approach Michael Meyer I4 3 Ibsen on the English Stage:The Proofof the Pudding is inthe Eating' Inga-Stina Ewbank 27 4 Ibsen and the Scandinavian TheatreLise-Lone Markerand Frederick J.Marker49 5 Ibsen and Modern DramaMartin Esslin 7I 6 Hedda Gabler:the Play in Performance Janet Suzman 83 7 Ibsen's use of Language in When We Dead AwakenJohn NorthamI05 8 Ibsen and the ActorsEvert SprinchornI18 9 The Structured World of Ibsen's Late DramasJames McFarlaneI3I Index I4I Acknowledgements I should like to thank the Canada Council for conferring upon Ibsenthe honorary status of Canadian citizenship for the purposes offunding the 'Ibsen and the Theatre’conference-and RonaldBryden for corroborating this view of Ibsen in his witty banquetaddress;the Consul General of Norway in Vancouver,Mr Nils AxelNissen,and Mrs Liv Nissen,for their interest and support;Mr PeterHaworth for his participation in the evening of dramatic readingsfrom Ibsen;Michael Meyer,as consulting member in London forthe conference committee;and those committee members on thefaculty of the University of British Columbia-Andrew Parkin,Donald Soule,Marketa Goetz Stankiewicz-and especially PhilipMoir,who administered the financial and other arrangements,andJonathan Wisenthal who first conceived of the idea of theconference and who braved the various crises that attended itsrealisation. E.D. Notes on the Contributors Errol Durbach(editor)is Associate Professor of English at theUniversity of British Columbia,where he teaches Modern andComparative Drama.He has published many articles on Ibsen,andis currently writing a book on Ibsen and Romanticism. Martin Esslin was head of the Drama Department of the BBC,where he produced nearly all of Ibsen's major plays for radio.He isan influential drama critic whose Theatre of the Absurd is a seminalstudy of modern avant-garde drama,and his books on Brecht andPinter are also very highly regarded.Recently appointed as aProfessor of Drama at Stanford University,Martin Esslin nowdivides his time between London and California. Inga-Stina Ewbank is the Hildred Carlile Professor of English atBedford College,London,and is a well-known scholar ofRenaissance drama,author of a book on the Brontes,and adistinguished Ibsenite.She has written several papers on Ibsen'slanguage,translated John Gabriel Borkman for the National Theatre,Pillars of the Community for the Royal Shakespeare Company,andlast year provided a literal translation of Brand on which theNational Theatre's poetic version was based. James McFarlane is Professor of European Literature at theUniversity of East Anglia,Norwich,and is general editor of theOxford Ibsen(London,Ig6o-77),published in eight volumes.He haspublished many books and articles on European and Scandinavianliterature in general,and on Ibsen in particular.He is also editor ofScandinavica:An International Journal of Scandinavian Studies.He waselected Fellow of the Norwegian Academy in 1977· Lise-Lone Marker,Professor of Theatrical History at theGraduate Centre for Study of Drama,University of Toronto,is theauthor of David Belasco,Naturalism in the American Theatre and otherstudies. # NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS Frederick J.M

FAQs

What is the overall focus of this collection of essays?

The collection studies Henrik Ibsen through theatre-focused lenses, including biography, stage performance, language, and influence across English and Scandinavian contexts.

Which essay addresses Ibsen’s reception on the English stage?

“Ibsen on the English Stage: The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating” by Inga-Stina Ewbank.

How do the chapters approach Ibsen’s late works?

The book includes a dedicated chapter, “The Structured World of Ibsen’s Late Dramas,” analyzing the dramaturgical structure of the later plays.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aria