Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts at its debut shocked all of Europe not only for its subject matter but for the new theatrical style of Realism. FSU/Asolo Conservatory’s different production is on a set full of abstracted elements and three huge colorful doors that seem at first to herald farce. Ghosts, of course, refer to legacies of immorality, hypocrisy, deadly secrets and disease. An assured Carla Corvo manages to maintain Mrs. Alving’s control of her 19th century estate in Norway. She’s planned to leave all inherited money to an orphanage, so that her son Osvald (Marc Bitter, awfully hardy seeming though ill) won’t be profligate any longer. She had sent him to Paris at an early age in an unsuccessful attempt to curb his social style. Pastor Manders, played forcefully by Jonathan Grunert, is shocked to learn of the senior Alving’s dissolute ways. He tries to reconcile matters but finally has to bow to Mrs. Alving and, after a fire, backs Jacob Engstrand, who wants to open an establishment for sailors that will help reform them. He doesn’t look nearly old enough (bad make-up) to be father to the Alving maid Regina (Alex Pelletier, properly haughty and ambitious to up her social status). She turns out to be connected to the Alvings. Instead of the program carrying the usual director’s notes, it gives a timeline of the various pertinent entanglements, which don’t mean beans until after performance. The set has five potted plants on stands in front of the rear cyclorama at the parlor entrance and a “door” of an open door frame. When Jacob enters out of the rain, he isn’t a drop wet. When the Pastor stands under, he neither goes in or out. On each side of the stage under the arch there is a chair, and why anyone sits in one or leaves a briefcase on the other is a puzzle. I could go on, but I have to reserve space for a comment on the movement. I doubt that people in far house right can see the man in the kitchen overhearing conversation in the parlor. The characters walk around talking and mainly moving for no reason, in quite unreal fashion. And why are there some addresses to the back of the stage? Some blocking! Luckily, costumes pass muster. Mrs. Alving’s black gown is especially elegant and tailored. Ibsen wrote a play with challenges to the actors. Trying to meet them is a proper job for the second year FSU/Asolo Conservatory acting students.
