Often described as ‘the father of realism’, Henrik Ibsen was a pioneer of modernist drama. He influenced playwrights as diverse as George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, and is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare.
Included in this collection are adaptations of his tragicomic masterpiece The Wild Duck, his complex and compelling play Rosmersholm, the epic drama Brand and the tragedy John Gabriel Borkman. Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is relocated to 1879 India in Tanika Gupta’s Audio Drama Award-winning dramatisation, while the provocative and scandalous Ghosts is adapted by Richard Eyre, with the cast of his Olivier Award-winning Almeida Theatre production.
Also featured are vibrant dramatisations of Hedda Gabler, whose desperate heroine is trapped in a suffocating marriage; The Lady from the Sea, about a woman torn between security and passion; and An Enemy of the People, in which a whistleblower reveals an inconvenient truth and is vilified for it.
The casts of these stunning dramas include David Threlfall, Nicholas Farrell, Helen Baxendale, Indira Varma, Lesley Manville and Harriet Walter.
The Wild Duck
Cast: Hjalmar (David Threlfall), Gregers (Samuel West), Werle (James Fox), Gina (Lise-Ann McLaughlin), Hedvig (Lauren Cornelius), Ekdal (Clive Hayward), Relling (Michael Bertenshaw), Mrs Sørby (Georgie Glen)
Translated and adapted by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Peter Kavanagh
Solo flute played by Martin Feinstein
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 8 April 2018
Rosmersholm
Cast: John Rosmer (Nicholas Farrell), Rebekka West (Helen Baxendale), Professor Kroll (Ronald Pickup), Ulrik Brendel (Karl Johnson), Peder Mortensgaard (Philip Jackson), Mrs Helseth (Christine Absolom)
Translated by Frank McGuinness
Adapted and directed by Peter Kavanagh
Music composed and arranged by Marius Munthe-Kaas
Music supervisor: Giles Perring
Musicians: Gro Hole Austgulen (violin), Elin Kleppa Michalsen (violin), Anna Cecilia Johansson (viola), Olav Stener Olsen (cello)
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 15 January 2017
Brand
Cast: Brand (Gerard Murphy), Agnes (Morven Christie), Mayor (Jeremy Swift), Mother/Voice (Ann Mitchell), Ejnar (Carl Prekopp), Gerd/Son/Woman (Alex Tregear), Doctor (Alan Cox), Provost (Mark Tandy), Guide/Man (James Lailey), Crazed Woman (Susie Riddell), Gipsy/Woman (Elaine Claxton), Sexton/Man (Reg Stewart), Schoolmaster/Man (Gerard McDermott), Man (Simon Bubb)
Directed by Peter Kavanagh
Music composed and performed by Nicolai Abrahamsen
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 16 October 2011
John Gabriel Borkman
Cast: John Gabriel Borkman (David Threlfall), Miss Ella Rentheim (Susannah Harker), Mrs Gunhild Borkman (Gillian Bevan), Vilhelm Foldal (Philip Jackson), Erhart Borkman (Luke Newberry), Mrs Fanny Wilton (Jenny Rainsford), Malene (Claire Cage)
Adapted by David Eldridge
Directed by Helen Perry
A BBC Cymru/Wales Production
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8-15 March 2015
A Doll’s House
Cast: Niru (Indira Varma), Tom (Toby Stephens), Mrs Lahiri (Shaheen Khan), Kaushik Das (Shiv Grewal), Uma (Rani Moorthy), Dr Rank (Conrad Nelson), Bob (James Allen)
Adapted by Tanika Gupta
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Tabla Maestro: Shahbaz Hussain
Dancer: Anjum Malik
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 7 October 2012
Ghosts
Cast: Helene (Lesley Manville), Pastor Manders (Will Keen), Oswald (Jack Lowden), Regina (Charlene McKenna), Jacob Engstrand (Brian McCardie)
Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen adapted by Richard Eyre from a literal translation by Charlotte Barslund
Directed by Richard Eyre
Produced by Alison Hindell
Original sound design: John Leonard
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 15 December 2013
Hedda Gabler
Cast: Hedda (Harriet Walter), Judge Brack (Corin Redgrave), Jorgen Tesman (Nicholas Farrell), Løvberg (Michael Feast), Mrs Elvstead (Julie Legrand), Julia Tesman (Jill Balcon), Bertha (Merelina Kendall)
Translated and adapted by Helen Cooper
Produced by Eoin O’Callaghan
Music composed by Julie Cooper and performed by Julie Cooper (piano) and Justin Pearson (cello)
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 18 October 1998
The Lady from the Sea
Cast: Ellida (Cheryl Campbell), Wangel (Michael Gough), Bolette (Saskia Reeves), Arnholm (Niall Buggy), Lyngstrand (Simon Treves), Hilde (Jane Slavin), Stranger (Vincent Brimble), Ballested (James Greene)
Translated by Robert Ferguson
Directed by Peter Kavanagh
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 1 July 1990
An Enemy of the People
Cast: Dr Thomas Stockmann (Freddie Jones), Mrs Stockmann (Pauline Letts), Petra (Elizabeth Proud), Ejlif (David Howe), Morten (Jo Manning Wilson),Peter Stockmann (Maurice Denham), Morten Kiil (John Gabriel), Hovstad (Sean Barrett), Billing (Leslie Heritage), Horster (John Rye), Aslaksen (Lewis Stringer), Citizens (Sean Arnold, Ronald Forfar, Richard Griffiths, Nigel Lambert, Kerry Francis, Sara Coward, Jane Knowles)
Translated by Michael Meyer
Adapted and produced by John Tydeman
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22 March 1971
