Theatre and Film Series

Theatre and Film Ibsen Plays on Screen – Film Series and Panel Discussion

Commemoration of the 100-year Anniversary of the Playwright’s Death

Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906) is one of the greatest and most influential dramatists of all times. Bjorn Hemmer, Professor of Theatre at the University of Oslo, writes of Ibsen: “More than anyone, he gave theatrical art a new vitality by bringing into European bourgeois drama an ethical gravity, a psychological depth, and a social significance which the theatre had lacked since the days of Shakespeare. In this manner, Ibsen strongly contributed to giving European drama a vitality and artistic quality comparable to the ancient Greek tragedies.” Ibsen’s work has inspired many generations of film artists, from Oscar Apfels to Douglas Sirk, Ingrid Bergman, Steve McQueen, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Hans W. Geissendörfer. This series will feature some of these rarely seen films.

Series and panel discussion co-curated by Marvin Carlson, the Sidney E. Cohn Professor of Theatre, The Graduate Center, CUNY and Anne-Katrin Titze, “Text on Film” Scholar. Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center in collaboration with the Center for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo, Ibsensenteret, www.hf.uio/ibsensenteret and The National Ibsen Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture. www.Ibsen.net.

Check for updates, program is subject to change.
Screenings of other rare Ibsen films may be added.

Monday, November 27, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre
5:30 p.m.	The Disquieting Traces of Ibsen in Film and Theatre
Panel discussion with Marvin Carlson, Anne-Katrin Titze, and other Ibsen scholars.
6:30 p.m.	A Doll's House (1973) (Screening) Directed by Patrick Garland Adaptation by Christopher Hampton English, 105 min. This superb version of Henrik Ibsen's classic play A Doll's House stars Claire Bloom (Brideshead Revisited, Charly) as Nora, a sweet and lively but frivolous woman whose puritanical husband Torvald (Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs, The Elephant Man) "loves" her but doesn't take her seriously. As Torvald assumes a new position as a bank manager, an old debt of Nora's intrudes upon their "happy" life and reveals secret sides of both husband and wife. The play has been skillfully turned into film, tightening the action and providing the opportunity for intimate performances from an outstanding cast.

Friday, December 1, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre
6:30 p.m.	Rosmersholm (2001) (Screening) Directed by Terje Maerli Norwegian with English subtitles, 126 min. At Rosmersholm children don’t cry and adults don’t laugh. It is a place where those who transgress must atone. “I was different then from what I am now, standing here talking about it. And besides, it seems to me a person can want things both ways,” says Rebekka West, as Ibsen’s Little Mermaid.	Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Woodcut by Felix Valloton for J.A. Stargardt Publishing House, Berlin, 1898.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre
6:30 p.m.	The Wild Duck (Vildante) (Screening) Directed by Tancred Ibsen Norweigian with English subtitles, 105 min. The Wild Duck, Norwegian director Tancred Ibsen's (1893-1978) last film, is based on his grandfather Henrik Ibsen's play, which portrays choices made by the average man, lies and sacrifices. Many of Tancred Ibsen's twenty or so films are today considered Norwegian classics. He is considered to be the director who modernised Norwegian film, raising it to an international level both technically and artistically.