Theatrical Diarrhea

By Jonathan Jones
Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Oh, my. I will begin by telling you that this work by Ibsen deserves a bit more attention as a study in ambition. Ibsen described the piece as his most important work, yet it is rarely seen, and never before in England. Here, we have a problem. Given the historical nature of the piece, it has much educative relevance. Further, as it unpacks the ways in which unsuspecting individuals who are thrust into positions of power can run amok, there is much to be considered within the work.


Alas, at tonight at the National, we were treated to what can best be described as theatrical diarrhea. Like Saturday's RSC treatment of Macbeth, the approach here seemed to be an ambition to use every theatrical device at the director's disposal. Further, a variety of metaphorical allusions were made to conflicts and crisis of the last thirty years as well as over-indulgent religious imagery which seemingly could only be utilized in order to inflame rather than encourage dialogue and thought. This approach is directly in conflict with the goals of the writing, and while I have never been a director who felt that I must be faithful to the writer's intent, this really was too far off the mark.


I will say that I had no impulse to leave at the interval - though perhaps if I knew the work already, I wouldn't have even made it that far. Like a train wreck that you  cannot turn away from, this was perhaps equally an exercise in just seeing how bad it could get. And here (like my experience at Henry V at the National in July, 2003), the depths knew no bounds.