Word: ibsenism
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Sheer respect for Henrik Ibsen (even Ibsen at his worst), provided the momentum for last night's production at the Loeb. Director Caroline Cross persistently believed in the applicability of the play, and a good cast went far toward transforming grandiose chit-chat into drama...
...Duck are even tougher. Picking up the theme of idealism's tragic inefficiency, Rosmersholm concerns a gritty, ambitious woman who imposes on a respectable pastor the belief that he can improve mankind. While the scene never shifts from the house that has been Rosmer's family bastion for cons, Ibsen reports that there is a great liberal-conservative struggle going on outside. He also assumes that "the poor people" are more or less milling about, waiting for a self-sacrificing word from Pastor Johannes Rosmer. So much for the widely advertised politics...
What Miss Cross's show lacks is organic motion (for which it substitutes masterful blocking), and the tragedy that Ibsen failed to provide. What recommends it highly is its speed, color, and clarity...
This reviewer's biases should be taken into account, because they obviously deflect the conclusions. Ibsen's no favorite of mine, and Rosmersholm is not among his finer plays. But even these biases could not blur the polished stagecraft clearly displayed at the Loeb...
ROSMERSHOLM, one of Ibsen's late, knotty plays. Presented by the Harvard Dramatic Club at the Loeb Drama Center, tonight through Sunday, and Tuesday through Saturday, Dec. 16, at 8 p.m. Tickets...