LOGAN – The campus of Utah State University will be haunted by a production of the classic drama Ghosts this weekend.
The USU Theatre Arts Department will present a staged reading of the once-controversial play by Henrik Ibsen on Friday, Jan. 28 and Saturday, Jan. 29.
Ghosts is directed by USU professor Leslie Brott. In addition to heading the university’s actor training program, Ms. Brott is a talented actress and director as well as a member of the Actors’ Equity Association, the nationwide union of theatrical professionals.
Some theater-goers tend to denigrate staged readings, which are rehearsed read-throughs of a script, performed in front of a seated audience. But others praise that form of entertainment as being stripped of distracting costumes, scenery and lighting, leaving the audience to focus exclusively on a script’s theatrical merits.
In the case of Ghosts, those merits are considerable.
When originally performed in the late 19th Century, Ibsen’s plays (e.g. Ghosts, A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabbler, An Enemy of the People and others) provoked critical outrage and audience uproar because they dealt frankly with issues that violated the polite social norms of the late Victorian Era. Even today, Ibsen’s underlying themes are still strong stuff.
While discussion of sexually transmitted diseases might not be as provocative now as it was 140 years ago, exploration of the impact of public expectations on individuals and families is undoubtedly still relevant, particularly in our age of all-pervasive social media.
The protagonist of Ghosts is Helene, a widow who had let concern about public perceptions force her to endure marriage to a cruel but outwardly charming husband. She is determined to escape the ghosts of her past by telling her son, Oswald, the truth about his father. Instead, Helene is shocked to discover that Oswald has already inherited the legacy of his father’s dissolute life.
The USU Theatre Arts Department is warning that Ghosts contains adult language and themes, including discussion of suicide and incest.
The staged readings of Ghosts are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday in the intimate Black Box Theatre in the Chase Fine Arts Center on the USU campus, where seating will be limited.