The Wild Duck
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Henrik Ibsen's 1884 drama, "The Wild Duck", is the story of Gregers Werle, an idealist who returns to his hometown after some absence. While there he begins to meddle in the affairs of the Ekdals, an odd family that have constructed a strange way of living by ignoring the skeletons in their respective closets. The Ekdals escape the reality of their existence by the construction of various delusional fantasies. Gregers, who believes that the pursuit of the ideal demands the exposition of absolute truth, summons the Ekdals to expose for themselves the truth that is hiding behind the facade of their lies. In so doing, a tragic unraveling of the very fabric of the Ekdals lives occurs in classic Ibsen fashion.
Henrik Ibsen
Born in 1828, Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and poet, often associated with the early Modernist movement in theatre. Determined to become a playwright from a young age, Ibsen began writing while working as an apprentice pharmacist to help support his family. Though his early plays were largely unsuccessful, Ibsen was able to take employment at a theatre where he worked as a writer, director, and producer. Ibsen’s first success came with Brand and Peter Gynt, and with later plays like A Doll’s House, Ghosts, and The Master Builder he became one of the most performed playwrights in the world, second only to William Shakespeare. Ibsen died in his home in Norway in 1906 at the age of 78.
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