Richard Eyre Remembers... Ibsen

With a career spanning seven decades, acclaimed theatre, film and TV director Richard Eyre has been involved in a number of hugely successful Ibsen productions. His adaptation of Ghosts in 2013 won him the Evening Standard Best Director award. He directed John Gabriel Borkman for the National, starring Paul Schofield and Vanessa Redgrave, and a notable Hedda Gabler with Eve Best, again adapted by Richard. Thus, he is perfectly placed to give us an introduction to this complex yet still very relevant playwright.

Richard talks about how much contemporary drama owes to Ibsen and about the key characters - Nora in A Doll’s House and Mrs Alving in Ghosts - and how their depictions were drawn from the playwright’s own experience and world view. He also discusses the darkness in Ibsen’s subject matter, how he was often vilified when his plays were first performed. Yet it is this bravery that has kept the plays relevant and a mainstay of the arts world to this day.