Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts was a cause célèbre in 1882 when it was first performed. Not only did the Norwegian establishment find its attack on the bourgeois and religious constraints of the age outrageous, it was shocked by the notion that venereal disease–-specifically syphilis--could be mentioned in polite society.
In Richard Eyre’s brilliant adaptation of Ghosts, syphilis isn’t mentioned, just hinted at. This artistic decision makes sense in a modern version of the play; we have a lot more worrisome sexually transmitted diseases to worry about these days.
What Eyre, former artistic director of the UK National Theatre, has done is to strip Ghosts down to the bone: a showdown between the widow Helene Alving (the remarkable Pamela J. Gray) and Reverend Manders (the equally outstanding Barry Del Sherman). Mrs Alving represents all that’s good in people, especially in a woman who was deceived and betrayed by her late husband but hasn’t lost her humanity and warmth. With the help of feminist literature and philosophy, she has set out to live a better second life (by opening an orphanage). She can’t do it alone, though, which is why she has turned to Reverend Manders for help. At one time, many years ago, they loved each other but had to repress their feelings because of her marital status. Now that she’s widowed, though, she is a free and emancipated woman, ready to love openly and fully.
The same can’t be said for the black-clad, pinch-mouthed Reverend, unfortunately. Where she has blossomed and grown over the years, he has shrunk and dried up, like an old prune. This Christian hypocrite is incapable of love or empathy.
Equally useless is her son Oswald (Alex Barlas), back from two bohemian years in Paris (and secretly suffering from the clap). He rails against the bourgeoisie but can’t convert talk into action; he’s just a pathetic, blubbering mama’s boy.
Helene’s father, Jacob Engstrand (J. Stephen Brantley), is another deadbeat, a lame, drunken fool whose dream in life is to open a whorehouse. His daughter Regina (Viva Hassis Gentes) is too young and unformed to be effective.
Ghosts, which will be running at the Odyssey for the next six weeks, has been skillfully and boldly directed by Bart DeLorenzo. He has set the action in Helene Alving’s home, but where Ibsen called for an elegant set, with chandeliers and fine furnishings, DeLorenzo and scenic designer Frederica Nascimento opt for a grim, cluttered, messy set–-symbol of the muddled, fractured world of poor, unfortunate Helene.
