The Lady from the Sea (NHB Classic Plays) E-Book

Henrik Ibsen

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Ellida, the lighthouse-keeper's daughter, is trapped in her marriage and longs for the sea. When a former lover returns from years of absence, she is forced to decide between freedom and the new life she has made for herself. Relocated to the Caribbean in the 1950s, Elinor Cook's version of Henrik Ibsen's shattering 1888 play about duty and self-determination premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in 2017, in a production directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah. 'One of the strangest and most haunting of Ibsen's works… Elinor Cook's sharp adaptation and relocation to a post-colonial British island manages to update the proceedings while also emphasising the social expectations that make this less of a paradise than it looks for the female characters in the play… draws on its Caribbean setting for some fine moments of humour' - Independent 'Elinor Cook's new version clarifies a familiar text… the dialogue [is] updated with a good deal of ingenuity' - Guardian

Leseprobe

Henrik Ibsen

THE LADY FROMTHE SEA

in a new version by

Elinor Cook

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

Acknowledgements

Epigraph

Characters

The Lady from the Sea

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

This version of The Lady from the Sea was first performed at the Donmar Warehouse, London, on 18 October 2017 (previews from 12 October), with the following cast, in order of speaking:

BALLESTREDJim FindleyBOLETTEHelena WilsonLYNGSTRANDJonny HoldenHILDEEllie BamberDOCTOR WANGELFinbar LynchARNHOLMTom MckayELLIDANikki Amuka-BirdTHE STRANGERJake Fairbrother

Director

Kwame Kwei-Armah

DesignerTom ScuttLighting DesignerLee CurranSound DesignerEmma LaxtonComposerMichael Bruce

Acknowledgements

My heartfelt thanks to Josie Rourke, Kate Pakenham, Al Coomer, Lynette Linton, Fay Davies, Tumi Belo, Sarah Liisa Wilkinson, Tom Doyle, Alice Stevenson and to Lesley, Jeremy and Richard Cook.

Extra special thanks to Nikki Amuka-Bird, Clare Slater and Kwame Kwei-Armah for being so generous with their time and insightful with their thoughts.

E.C.

‘Love is a deadly business. It throws us up against ourselves, leaves us hanging there.’

Vivian Gornick

Characters

ELLIDA

DOCTOR WANGEL

BOLETTE

HILDE

ARNHOLM

LYNGSTRAND

BALLESTRED

THE STRANGER

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

ACT ONE

The arbour of DOCTOR WANGEL’s garden, at the back of an old colonial wooden house, on a leafy hill, on a Caribbean island, sometime in the mid-1950s.

The garden is fragrant with jasmine, hibiscus and bougainvillea.

A path can be seen, which leads to a deep, almost frighteningly dark lagoon.

There are large tamarind trees at the edges of the garden, and a fence.

Just outside the fence, there is an artist’s easel and a box of watercolours.

BALLESTRED is attempting to hoist a large flag.

BOLETTE, who is carrying an embarrassment of flowers, is watching him.

BALLESTRED Like that?

BOLETTE Sort of…

BALLESTRED It’s a bit tricky…

BOLETTE You’re nearly there.

Keep going…

That’s it!

It looks much better now, doesn’t it?

Like we’re really celebrating something.

They look at the flag, pleased.

BALLESTRED Are you expecting a guest?

The governor himself, I’d imagine, with all this finery…

BOLETTE Um.

Beat.

You might remember Mr Arnholm.

BALLESTRED Rings a bell…

Clever chap.

With the big books and the geometry set.

BOLETTE That’s him.

He’s been in Europe the last eight years…

This will be the first time he’s set foot on the island since 1943.

BALLESTRED Wasn’t he your tutor?