Word: ibsens
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WHAT WITH controversy over the Pi Eta Speakers Club and the What is to be Done problems with Wellesley. Harvard feminists recently have had a lot to keep themselves busy. Lowell House Drama Society's current staging of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House resists the temptation to capitalize on this furor. By shifting the play's emphasis from feminist to humanist, the production loses none of the original interpretation's power while finding a deeper and more universal message...
...direction in the Loeb's production of Love's Comedy unless you consider the massive obstacle the company saddled itself with at the start the play. As so often happens the ambition to tackle something obscure and new, which can lead to great triumphs has proved slightly misdirected Henrik Ibsen's work in general, is neither forgotten nor unappreciated. But his ninth play, Love's Comedy a sort of satiric comedy of manners is obscure for a reason...
Vastly unlike most Ibsen in both plot and style, Love's Comedy traces the romance between the young poet Falk (Adam Swift) and the rebellious and idealistic Svanhild (Caroline Isenberg). Around them, innumerable friends and relatives are becoming engaged--and, soon thereafter, seeing all the light and joy drain from their relationships. Falk spends most of his time vehemently denouncing these engagements and marriage in general, but soon finds himself falling prey to his own emotions Svanhild, for her part, in choosing between Falk and another suitor, must weigh the conflicting claims of freedom, a "perfect" and fleeting romance...
...lameness of the dialogue--much of it in stylized rhyme--suggests another problem stemming from the script's unpopularity--bad translation. Though program notes refer the Jens Arup translation to a 1962 edition of Ibsen, the play's diction betrays all the self-conscious "translationese" of the turn of the century--even to the using the word "poesy" for "poetry" here and there. Faced with the need to make lines like "Can you not re-weld the link you tore asunder?" and "Am I to hallmark your complacency?" sound natural, director Holly Swartz takes the logical strategy of stylizing...
...produce them, there is a problem with this schedule. It lacks the one thing Harvard prides itself on: diversity. The plays are certainly different, and yet, not different enough. There is not a single musical on the list, or a comedy, or a classic. (There is an Ibsen, but Love's Comedy is one of his more obscure works and therefore would not be considered a classic of modern drama.) In fact, if you were to survey the Harvard community--those people who do not live and breathe the theatre but merely enjoy catching a show now and then...