Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – An unfussy new translation and top tier acting distinguish Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Ibsen’s GHOSTS

• By drediman
• March 11, 2025
• No Comments

In the coming weeks, an onslaught of starry, high profile revivals are slated to open Off-Broadway, starting with last night’s official opening of Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (the other highly anticipated revivals include The Cherry Orchard at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Vanya at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, and A Streetcar Named Desire at the Brooklyn Academy of Music). Originally commissioned by and performed across the pond at the Abbey Theater in 2023, the unfussy and steamlined new translation by Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe attempts to temper the notoriously explosive emotions that course through Ibsen’s uneven play.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ghosts, Ibsen’s infrequently performed play — at least relative to his better known classics like A Doll’s House, An Enemy of the People, and Hedda Gabler — tells the story of how the sins of a deceased patriarch come back to haunt and dismantle the family he left behind, which includes his wife Helena, his son Oswald, and his illegitimate daughter Regina (who serves as the family’s housemaid). Also in the mix are Regina’s father Engstrand and the local minister Manders, each of whom stoke the family drama. The translation of such a dark tale — which is rife with extremities and depravity — seems tailor made for the temperament of an Irish playwright, and Rowe does a fine job of retaining the piece’s pungent tone, while largely staying clear of outright melodrama.

Veteran director Jack O’Brien’s LCT production of Ghosts is tastefully heightened and does an effective job of riding the plot’s mounting intrigue. He’s also elicited some rather top tier acting from a highly accomplished cast, starting with the husband-and-wife duo of Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater, who return to the stage after a decade-long hiatus as Helena and Engstrand. It’s exciting to see these fantastic actors on the boards once again, and they arguably give the most forceful and lived-in performances of the production. The great Billy Crudup is exceptionally ambiguous — and all but unrecognizable — as the morally questionable Manders. And as the younger characters Oswald and Regina, Levon Hawke and Ella Beatty impart detail and subtlety in roles that could easily be overplayed.

RECOMMENDED

GHOSTS
Off-Broadway, Play
Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 26