Theatre 2024: Rosmersholm @ Crow Theatre

The first play in Crow Theatre’s 2024/25 season is an adapted version of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s drama Rosmersholm which deals with guilt and moral responsibility set against the backdrop of a period of global societal change that saw the decline of the aristocracy and rise of the working class.  It has been described as Ibsen’s darkest play so I went in prepared to not enjoy this, since I usually prefer lighter works.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was mesmerized and enthralled from the very start.

Written in 1886, which puts the timeframe in between the French Revolution of 1789-99 and the Russian Revolution of 1917-23, the setting of Ibsen’s tale is the manor house of John Rosmer, an aristocratic former clergyman who is the latest in a long line of Rosmers, a well-respected and influential family in the community.  Also living in the house is Rebecca West, a friend and companion of Rosmer’s late wife Beata.  We learn that presumably out of despair due to her inability to bear children and continue the Rosmer line, Beata committed suicide a year ago by throwing herself off a bridge on the property.

Rebecca has remained to console John and it is clear that they have fallen in love and are much more compatible in intellect and viewpoints that John was with Beata.  Rebecca’s passion and ideals about the need for social change and equality amongst the classes have influenced John, leading him to support the Liberal cause in an upcoming election against the Conservatives who want to maintain the status quo. The highly controversial election will determine which party will gain power and impose their vision for the future of the town, and then eventually the country. Beata’s brother Kroll, a fellow aristocrat and current governor of the town, is appalled and outraged at the thought that Rosmer is willing to betray his friends and peers with his new political stance. Kroll blames Rebecca for bewitching Rosmer and insinuates that there was an illicit and immoral affair between them which was the real reason that Beata killed herself.  Rosmer renouncing his religious faith and stepping down as pastor reinforces Kroll’s assertion that John is now a fallen man.  Despite maintaining a platonic relationship, John and Rebecca each feel guilt that their feelings for one another may have led to Beata’s suicide.  Unable to move past the tragedy, they decide on a joint course of action that leads to a shocking conclusion.

British playwright Duncan Macmillian’s adaptation of Rosmersholm premiered in London’s West End in 2019.  Keeping the characters, themes, plotline and timeframe of the original play intact, Macmillian modernizes the language and adds more emphasis to the political aspects of the play, drawing clear references to the political turmoil that we currently face.  This includes highlighting the power of the media in influencing the common man, where dueling newspapers supporting the two opposing ideologies parallel today’s dueling TV news outlets.  When Kroll’s Tribune newspaper publishes a smear campaign against John and Rebecca, the head housekeeper Mrs. Helseth expresses her doubts about their relationship, despite having witnessed no improprieties first-hand.  Because it said so in the newspapers, there had to be some truth to it?!?

To highlight the class distinction between the upper and lower classes, the multiple servants who wait on John, Rebecca and Kroll as they dine, and who help John dress, are silent and have no speaking lines in the play.  This intentionally and effectively illustrated the “voiceless majority” of the working class.  It was interesting that the actors playing the servants were mostly the ones that attended the post-show talk-back so we finally were able to hear them speak.  They explained how their silent actions of servitude throughout the play helped to visually emphasize the plight of the lower class.

Plays at Crow theatre directed by head artistic director Chris Abraham always have innovative and impressive staging.  Rosmersholm is set in the round, and painted portraits of past generations of Rosmer men line all four walls, each lit by a simulated oil lamp.  These faces stare down at the action, adding to the pressure felt by John and probably Beata to carry on the family name and traditions.  The final climatic scene is a staging triumph. Not wanting to spoil the ending, I can merely say that while Ibsen’s play originally used dialogue to explain what happened, the version of the play at Crow Theatre made it clear by the mere use of sound effects, lighting and water, resulting in a much more powerful conclusion.