Ghosts
The "ghosts" in Henrik Ibsen's drama don't go bump in the night. But they're just as haunting. Only Mrs. Alving sees them. And for 19 years she has fought to keep them from collapsing her public image. In the North Coast Rep's uneven but ultimately moving production, Rosina Reynolds pits Mrs. Alving in a tug-or-war between "dead" beliefs and personal freedom. Richard Baird's excellent Osvald, Mrs. Alving's fragile, "worm-eaten" son, moves in an inexorable line from flames to embers. Under David Ellenstein's direction (and performing Anne Charlotte Harvey's fine new translation), Reynolds and Baird's scenes together are so spontaneous it's as if the characters are simply riffing from the heart. Jonathan McMurtry (with Ibsen-like, muttonchop sideburns) makes carpenter Engstrand much slier than most "bumpkin" readings. Young Aimee Burdette's pert Regina brightens the stage, though her recognition scene lacks specificity. And John Herzog's flat, amateurish effort as Pastor Manders drags down the scenes he plays and never conveys the sense, the moral passion, that he believes a word the clergyman says [note: due to popular demand, NCRT has extended its run].
Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Saturday, May 8, 2010
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 7pm |
| Wednesdays, 7pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 2pm & 8pm |