Henrik Ibsen Collection (Hedda Gabler / Ghosts / Little Eyolf / The Wild Duck / The Master Builder) Reviews

The Henrik Ibsen Collection features ten star-studded BBC productions of Ibsen's most famous plays, together in one six-disc box set. Considered the father of modern realistic drama, Henrik Ibsen is one of the most important playwrights of all time. His plays attacked the values of the Victorian society in which he lived and were considered scandalous during his lifetime. Yet many of his themes are thoroughly modern today. The Henrik Ibsen Collection features stellar casts in Ibsen's best-known works, including Ingrid Bergman and Michael Redgrave in Hedda Gabler, Judi Dench and Michael Gambon in Ghosts, Anthony Hopkins and Diana Rigg in Little Eyolf, Denholm Elliot in The Wild Duck, Sir Donald Wolfitt and Leo McKern respectively in two extraordinary productions of The Master Builder, and much more. It's a quintessential part of any theater lover's library.

The Henrik Ibsen Collection is simply astoundingly comprehensive. This compilation of BBC adaptations of Ibsen's work--plays essential to the dawn of modern theater--features television versions of nine of Ibsen's major plays (with two different versions of The Master Builder, with the arrogant architect played in 1958 by Donald Wolfit, then in 1988 by Leo McKern), with an additional seven of Ibsen's plays (including some rarely performed early works) presented in radio versions, along with an intriguing play about Ibsen, A Meeting in Rome, concerning the Norwegian dramatist's relationship with the bitter Swedish playwright August Strindberg, author of Miss Julie. But the collection's true value lies not in its completeness; these productions are never less than sturdy and some are grippingly dynamic, thanks to skillful direction and powerhouse casts. The tightly edited 1962 version of Hedda Gabler stars a magnetic Ingrid Bergman as the volatile heroine, fantastically paired with Michael Redgrave (The Importance of Being Earnest) as her mediocre husband and Ralph Richardson (The Fallen Idol) as their predatory family friend, his eyes glittering with lust for Hedda. Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply) perfectly captures both the flightiness and the earnest passion of the Victorian wife of A Doll's House (though the script could have stood some editing for television). The blazing eyes of Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner) drive the title character of Brand, a clergyman who destroys his own life through inflexible rectitude. In Little Eyolf, Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) and Diana Rigg (The Avengers) claw at each other as they suffocate in their unhappy marriage. The most visually striking production is Ghosts, starring Judi Dench (Iris), Michael Gambon (The Singing Detective), and Kenneth Branagh (Shackleton); this creepy tale of incest, adultery, and disease oozes Gothic claustrophobia. In some respects, Ibsen hasn't aged well. Many of the particular repressions and injustices he attacked have fallen (though often replaced by subtler forms), making some of these plays seem strident and overwrought. But the modernized adaptation of An Enemy of the People easily shows how hypocrisy and greed never go away--no stars here, just the sheer force of people acting out their worst instincts. And only someone heartless could remain unmoved by The Wild Duck, with a simple but devastating performance by Jenny Agutter (Logan's Run) as a girl watching her family destroyed by an intruder's idealism. Though Ibsen died over a hundred years ago, his plays still pack a punch. --Bret Fetzer MPN: WARDE2977D - UPC: 794051297723