2017-03-09

nineveh_uk: Illustration that looks like Harriet Vane (Harriet)
2017-03-09 07:49 pm

That thicks one's blood with cold

Few things strike terror and fury into my theatre-going heart like the words "In a new version by [...]" on the website/review/flyer of a a play not originally written in English. New translations, great! Don't use the one from 1905. But new versions? I want to see Ibsen, not someone else's supposedly more exiting text.* I suppose on the plus side, that's one less trip to London that I have to make or feel bad about not making.** Maybe next time someone decides to be exciting and original with Ibsen they could just put it on in Norwegian with subtitles.

* Though I would definitely have gone to that Swedish version of Hamlet in which he's a murderer, I speak as a person who has had ample opportunity to see Hamlet.

** If it were cheap and local, I might try it out anyway. But when it involves the train, extra cost, and a late night, nope.