top  

On the Subject

Lady from the Sea is a Theatre at UBC production
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Telus Studio Theatre, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
March 18 - March 27, 2004, 7:30 p.m.

About the Production

Portrait of Ibsen, by Edvard  MunchIbsen wrote The Lady from the Sea during a period when he was fusing his powerful psychological insights with his commitment to female equality. It's the story of Ellida, who must chose between a marriage to a dull but decent doctor and an uncharted life at sea with a charismatic sailor she loved many years ago and who suddenly re-appears in her life. With Ellida's struggle the theme becomes apparent: you must be free to make your own choices, even if these choices might result in catastrophe. Bryan Wade's new adaptation is filled with suspense, and he sets the play in the summer of 1968 in a small town at the end of " a sixty-mile long channeI inland from the rugged northern coastline of British Columbia.

 
Panel Discussion

A discussion of Bryan Wade's adaptation of Ibsen's play.


Friday, 19th of March
1:00pm ~ 1:50pm
in the Royal Bank Cinema (located in the Chan Centre)

Featuring Sandra Saari, Ibsen Scholar (Rochester), Bryan Wade, Adapter (UBC), John Cooper, Director

Free admission and all are Welcome
 

"The lure of the sea. Longing for the sea. People's affinity to the sea. Tied to the sea. Dependent on the sea. Compulsion to return to it."
From Ibsen's first notes for Lady from the Sea, June 5th, 1888.

 

The Director
John Cooper talking about Lady from the Sea

..."For me, the piece is about Choice; the necessity for free choice, the courage it takes to actually face the choice and and then leap, and the resulting freedom which ensues. I join both Ibsen and Mr. Wade in acknowledging the strength and intelligence of women in leading us towards this wisdom. It has been both enlightening and creatively satisfying to share this journey with these talented and committed young theatre artists."

Biography of John Cooper

John has directed over 100 productions at theatres across Canada, with recent local productions including OTHELLO and ZADIE’S SHOES for the Arts Club Theatre and SLEUTH and TO DIE FOR for The Richmond Gateway Theatre. John is a three time Jessie Richardson Award winner for Outstanding Direction, most recently for The Arts Club Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s ALL MY SONS. Last year, John directed A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE for the UBC Department of Theatre. He is a graduate of the department's MFA program in Directing (1981). John is a free-lance director based in Vancouver where he lives with his wife, actress/ playwright Lorena Gale, and sons Jordan and Clayton.

 
"The sea has power over moods, has its own willpower. The sea can hypnotize. Nature can in general. The great secret is the dependency of the human will on 'what is without willpower'. She has come from the sea, where her father's parsonage lay. Grew up out there – by the free, open sea. "
From Ibsen's first notes for Lady from the Sea, June 5th, 1888.
 

Resource Guide
Bibliography and Internet Sites

Brandes, Georg. Henrik Ibsen, a Critical Study. Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1964.

Durbach, Errol. Ibsen The Romantic: Analogues of Paradise in the Later Plays. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1982.

Egan, Michael, editor. Henrik Ibsen: The Critical Heritage. New York: Routledge, 1997

Jorgensen, Theodore. Henrik Ibsen: A Study In Art and Personality. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1978

Marker, Frederick J. and Lise-Lone Marker. Ibsen’s Lively Art: A Performance Study of the MajorPlays. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

McFarlane, James editor. The Cambridge Companion to Ibsen. New York: Cambridge University Press,1994.

Meyer, Michael. Ibsen: A Biography. Garden City: Doubleday, 1971.Templeton, Joan. Ibsen’s Women. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Facts about The Lady from the Sea

International Ibsen Bibliography

Project Gutengerg downloadable ebook of The Lady from the Sea

       
       
 
website design by linda fenton malloy