Helene Alving sacrificed everything to maintain the appearance of an irreproachable family. She endured an unhappy marriage. She suppressed her true love. She covered up her husband’s immorality right up until his death. She even gave her son away to keep him away from his father’s bad influence. Now her plan is coming to fruition: The adult Osvald returns as a successful painter, the opening of a children's home is meant to solidify the righteous memory of her husband, and she finally reveals the whole truth to her confidant, Pastor Manders. And yet the ghosts of the past keep her firmly in their stranglehold. Director Anna Bergmann is particularly familiar with Scandinavian theater and is once again adapting a play by Henrik Ibsen. This family drama in three acts premiered in 1882 in Chicago. In Bergmann’s production, however, the ghosts of patriarchy haunt not only Helene Alving, but also her maid, Regine. Through atmospherically dense, surreal tableaux, the director explores women’s strategies for freeing themselves from violence and from the constraints they have inherited and experienced. The play will be performed in German with English surtitles.
Tickets are CHF 30-80 for adults and CHF 10 for youths and students.

Website
theater-basel.ch/en/gespenster

Where
Schauspielhaus Theater Basel
Steinentorgasse 7
4051 Basel

Map
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