Production of Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’ focuses on poignancy of play
By Nicole Krueger
Managing Editor
Henrik Ibsen's “ghosts” aren’t
terribly controversial today, in
an age when children learn
about syphilis in junior high
school, when pre-teens read
about incest in V.C. Andrews
novels and when feminism is
yesteryear’s catch phrase. In
fact, these worn-out issues have
long since given way to new is
sues, such as AIDS and assisted
suicide.
So it is hard for us to imagine
the uproar “Ghosts” ignited
when it hit the stage in Norway
in 1881.
“Ghosts” is the story of a rich
Norwegian widow, Mrs. Alving,
who, just as she is about to erect
a monument to her late hus
band, learns that her beloved
son, a painter living in Paris, is
afflicted with syphilis. Bom
barded with hypocritical advice
from her old friend Pastor Man
ders, she is forced to confront
the chains of duty that have
bound her all her life as she tries
to exorcise the ghosts left be
hind by her dead husband.
In its time, “Ghosts” confront
ed issues no one wanted to talk
about or see reflected back at
them on the stage. It accused up
per-class people of being unable
in 1881.
But it does take courage to
take on this play with the sin
cerity and depth of emotion that
the University Theatre did.
It would have been easy to
succumb to the play’s countless
to trunk tor
themselves. It
accused the
clergy of cor
ruption. And it
hung the upper
class’ dirty
laundry out for
the world to see
by exploring
the issues of in
fidelity, illegiti
THEATRE REVIEW
Ghosts
Written by Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Neil Vanderpool
■ TYPE: Commentary
■ WHERE: Arena Theatre
■ RATING: ★★★★ ★
humorous
barbs and wit
ticims, mak
ing the truths
it presents —
no less
poignant for
their outdat
edness — eas
ier to swallow
with the
proverbial
mate cnnaren ana sexually
transmitted diseases.
Today, in an age when we are
continually forced to wear our
dirty laundry in the public eye,
when society’s problems are
held up before our eyes as a part
of everyday life and when the
ater almost always explores one
issue or another, it takes a lot
less courage to produce
“Ghosts” than it did in Norway
spoonrui oi sugar. Hut tne cast ot
“Ghosts,” directed by Neil Van
derpool, didn’t take the easy
way out. Instead, they dis
missed the play’s humor as sec
ondary, eliciting a few laughs
but striving for a higher goal: to
express the poignancy of the
play and to make it mean some
thing to University students to
day.
Ryan Moulder’s tired, dis
eased and agonized Oswald was
captivating — his performance
during the last act was emotion
ally believable and reached be
yond the imaginary “fourth
wall” of theater to leave a lasting
impression and to tell the audi
ence what this play is really
about.
Rebecca Foster was equally
believable as Mrs. Alving, a
proper yet hardened 19th centu
ry woman whose love for her
son forces her to make agonizing
decisions until the end, when
she must make the most agoniz
ing decision of all. And Mark
Zolun's Pastor Manders was
both delightfully naive and in
furiatingly self-righteous.
Through their sincere and
emotional performances, the
cast members of “Ghosts”
brought the 117-year-old play
into the present, reminding us
of the issues we face today, such
as AIDS and assisted suicide,
and reminding us that the
ghosts of our actions today will
haunt our children in ways we
cannot begin to imagine.
Second Season
Theatre Production
See Henrik Ibsen’s "Ghosts" in
one of its last two performances
■ WHAT: The University The
atre’s production of Henrik
Ibsen’s “Ghosts,” a play about a
widow who must come to terms
with the dark secrets of her past
when her son develops a debili
tating disease.
■ WHEN: March 13 and 14 atB
p.m.
■ WHERE: Arena Theatre
■ TICKETS: $3 for University
students, $5 for senior citizens
and University faculty and staff
and $5 for the general public.
For more information, call the
University Theatre Box Office at
346-4191
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