An overdue premiere for Ibsen the ingenue
St John’s Night (Jermyn Street Theatre, London) Verdict: Has curiosity value ★★★✩✩
HENRIK IBSEN was only 25 when St John’s Night had its Norwegian premiere in 1853. It is a measure of the play’s weakness that this London production is its British premiere.
And yet it is not without its moments. There is the sheer novelty value of seeing the young Ibsen experiment with various themes — secret legal papers, step- mothers, old men near death — he would later explore with more success. And a couple of the performances here show similar promise.
The plot is a hoary thing with goblins, a magic spell and pull-theother-one coincidences. It has shades of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream but without the richness of language.
Ibsen does, however, give us some amusing satire of a critic, one Poulsen, who is ridiculously romantic about Norwegian nationalism. Danny Lee Wynter hams up the role with gusto.
Poulsen strikes patriotic poses by wearing a sheath knife and ignoring German grammatical rules. My goodness, it’s hardly on the scale of the National Front. Poulsen may be a fool but he is quite fun.
The tale follows a pair of not terribly ardent young lovers on midsummer evening. Birk (Ed Birch) is meant to be engaged to Juliane (Isla Carter) but instead falls for her step-sister Anne (Louise Calf).
Mr Birch and Miss Calf, who is costumed like a milkmaid from a Leni Riefenstahl film, are rather touching in their love scenes. Luke Bateman’s music lifts proceedings but they should do away with some tomfoolery before the show begins.
Director Anthony Biggs aims for a quirkiness which is at times beyond the reach of his youthful cast. But he and the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre are to be congratulated on giving this minor Ibsen an overdue British debut.