Ghosts single work   drama  
Adaptation of Ghosts Henrik Ibsen , 1881 single work drama
Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 Ghosts
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Since the death of her charismatic but abusive husband, Helene Alving has been treading water in a sea of empty days. What keeps her going is a deeply held belief that salvation can only lie in telling her son Oswald the truth about his father. But when Oswald returns after living as an artist in France, he has his own truth to reveal: he is already living the consequences of his father’s life…' (Production summary)

Production Details

  • Performed at Belvoir's Upstairs Theatre, Surrey Hills, New South Wales : 16 September - 22 October, 2017.

    Cast: Tom Conroy, Taylor Ferguson, Robert Menzies, Colin Moody, and Pamela Rabe.

    Director: Eamon Flack.

    Set Designer: Michael Hankin.

    Costume Designer: Julie Lynch.

    Lighting Designer: Nick Schlieper.

    Composer & Sound Designer: Stefan Gregory.

    Assistant Director: Carissa Licciardello.

    Stage Manager: Luke McGettigan.

    Assistant Stage Manager: Kaytlin Petrarca.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Ghosts (Belvoir St Theatre) Ian Dickson , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 396 2017; (p. 68) ABR : Arts 2017;

'When this production of Henrik Ibsen’s most controversial play was programmed, no one could have guessed how pertinent it would appear in Australia at this moment. On the surface, this account of a bourgeois woman whose attempt to escape from a loveless marriage and a philandering husband is foiled by the Pastor she loved and the conventions of the times, who has to live a lie and finally deal with a beloved son who has inherited syphilis from his father, is of another era. After all, there is now at last understanding and help for those leaving an abusive marriage, and her son’s disease would easily be cured. But Ghosts is about more than these afflictions. The protagonist, Mrs Alving’s, speech to her nemesis, the hidebound, reactionary Pastor Manders, quoted above, is the core of the play. As Robert Brustein writes, Ibsen’s ‘underlying purpose was to demonstrate how a series of withered conventions, unthinkingly perpetuated, could result in the annihilation not only of a conventional family but, by extension, the whole modern world’.' (Introduction)

Actress Pamela Rabe on Tackling Ibsen Harry Windsor , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 21-27 October 2017;

'Following the success of her Glass Menagerie with Eamon Flack, Pamela Rabe reunites with the director to explore the knottiness of Ibsen’s Ghosts. “I’m never one to sit around and wait for the phones to ring,” she says. “I love working in the theatre, and I work a lot in the theatre.”'

Actress Pamela Rabe on Tackling Ibsen Harry Windsor , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 21-27 October 2017;

'Following the success of her Glass Menagerie with Eamon Flack, Pamela Rabe reunites with the director to explore the knottiness of Ibsen’s Ghosts. “I’m never one to sit around and wait for the phones to ring,” she says. “I love working in the theatre, and I work a lot in the theatre.”'

Ghosts (Belvoir St Theatre) Ian Dickson , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 396 2017; (p. 68) ABR : Arts 2017;

'When this production of Henrik Ibsen’s most controversial play was programmed, no one could have guessed how pertinent it would appear in Australia at this moment. On the surface, this account of a bourgeois woman whose attempt to escape from a loveless marriage and a philandering husband is foiled by the Pastor she loved and the conventions of the times, who has to live a lie and finally deal with a beloved son who has inherited syphilis from his father, is of another era. After all, there is now at last understanding and help for those leaving an abusive marriage, and her son’s disease would easily be cured. But Ghosts is about more than these afflictions. The protagonist, Mrs Alving’s, speech to her nemesis, the hidebound, reactionary Pastor Manders, quoted above, is the core of the play. As Robert Brustein writes, Ibsen’s ‘underlying purpose was to demonstrate how a series of withered conventions, unthinkingly perpetuated, could result in the annihilation not only of a conventional family but, by extension, the whole modern world’.' (Introduction)

Last amended 27 Mar 2019 09:11:05
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