Posted by: archive
« on: August 20, 2007, 10:54:32 PM »
In Ibsen's last chunk of plays (from 1881 onwards) he went for a specific kind of naturalism - up until then he'd written big clunky verse plays with huge casts - "Brand", "Peer Gynt" and so on. The kind of naturalism in "Ghosts", "Dolls House", "The Master Builder", "Hedda Gabler" and the other famous ones of that last period has some kind of bearing on "Blasted", I think. They're all about a small group of characters in one specific location, within a contained time frame. Hence "A Doll's House" takes place in the one room in the one house over a couple of days with only 5 characters (apart from the Helmers' children and servants). Theatre in INTENSIVE mode as opposed to EXTENSIVE (extensive being, I guess, all the Renaissance epics with huge casts, numerous locations and a plot that unfolds over a long period of time - like "The Winter's Tale" or "Pericles" set in several countries and a story that spans 16 years). "Blasted" is essentially Intensive, with the only problem being the seasons, which would indicate that the action of the story takes a long time to unfold. But like Ibsen, any back story between Cate and Iain is woven into the narrative that's there - we don't lose anything by not seeing their previous meetings/encounters. The other majorly important thing in Ibsen, which has only just occurred to me, is the impact of the Outside World. While Intensive Theatre generally takes place indoors with a small cast of characters, the outside world is always represented by the Stranger, or the person from the past who arrives and shatters everything. In "A Doll's House" Nora's old friend Kristine, who holds the key to all the secrets in the play, turns up after years of absence. In "The Master Builder" the young girl Hilde turns up to stay and she's the person that turns everything into chaos for Solness. In "The Lady From The Sea" Ellida's lover from years ago, who she thought was dead, comes back to reclaim her. In every case, someone from the outside world penetrates the safety and security of the inner world and ruins everything. "Blasted"? Well, I guess the Soldier fulfils that role in many ways - literally ruining everything. It's Winter here but the sun has been out the last few days - not that I have seen it, as I'm spending all my days shut up inside a dark theatre rehearsing the New Zealand premiere of "Crave", which opens next week.
Archive 25-6-2002