The Wild Duck - Coronet

[Jan]

For those interested The Norwegian Ibsen Company are making their annual visit to the Coronet 18th October to 2nd November with The Wild Duck. This will be surtitled. Their productions are always interesting but possibly best if you are already somewhat familiar with the play. 

[bee]

I thought the last production they did at the Coronet, When We Dead Awaken, was very good so looking forward to this.

[Jan]

Jul 19, 2024 16:53:34 GMT bee said:

I thought the last production they did at the Coronet, When We Dead Awaken, was very good so looking forward to this.

Agree. I think their last was Dance of Death though ? Their very best was Lady From The Sea which brilliantly combined English and Norwegian actors but they have all been worthwhile for Ibsen/Strindberg enthusiasts. 

[aspieandy]

Last saw The Dance of Death at the Arcola (with Lindsay Duncan and husband) .. That was 2-years ago last week.

Not sure if I missed an Ibsen production at the Coronet.

[Jan]

Jul 19, 2024 17:29:20 GMT aspieandy said:

Last saw The Dance of Death at the Arcola (with Lindsay Duncan and husband) .. That was 2-years ago last week.

Not sure if I missed an Ibsen production at the Coronet.

Yes I saw that one. An interesting version of that was at The Gate with Michael Pennington directed by Tom Littler which included the sequel in a single adaptation. I think the only Coronet/Norwegian Ibsen I missed was Little Eyolf. 

[bee]

I've just googled some of these past productions. Turns out some were by the Ibsen company and some (Dance of Death Little Eyolf) were by the National Theatre of Norway. I'm a bit annoyed with myself that I missed them all but WWDA.

[Jan]

Jul 19, 2024 17:44:48 GMT bee said:

I've just googled some of these past productions. Turns out some were by the Ibsen company and some (Dance of Death Little Eyolf) were by the National Theatre of Norway. I'm a bit annoyed with myself that I missed them all but WWDA.

I think somehow they were all the same company - the same actors appeared in several of them.

[jake]

I've just booked for this on the strength of the same theatre's interesting production of When We Dead Awaken a couple of years ago.  In more ways than one it should be an antidote to the last The Wild Duck I saw - Robert Icke's extraordinarily self-indulgent effort at the Almeida.  One of the more painful memories of that was Icke's making one of the characters lecture the audience on how unreasonable it was to expect an authentic production.  One of his sophomoric arguments was that an 'authentic' production would have to be in Norwegian Danish (the idea that there could be anything like an accurate translation didn't seem to have occurred to him).  Anyway, Robert: this is me going to a production in the original language (I hope you don't think surtitles is cheating too much).  


www.thecoronettheatre.com/whats-on/the-wild-duck/

[Someone in a tree]

I'm going. Can't wait. The Coronet is such a great venue.

[Jan]

Oct 5, 2024 13:05:00 GMT jake said:

I've just booked for this on the strength of the same theatre's interesting production of When We Dead Awaken a couple of years ago.  In more ways than one it should be an antidote to the last The Wild Duck I saw - Robert Icke's extraordinarily self-indulgent effort at the Almeida.  One of the more painful memories of that was Icke's making one of the characters lecture the audience on how unreasonable it was to expect an authentic production.  One of his sophomoric arguments was that an 'authentic' production would have to be in Norwegian Danish (the idea that there could be anything like an accurate translation didn't seem to have occurred to him).  Anyway, Robert: this is me going to a production in the original language (I hope you don't think surtitles is cheating too much).  


www.thecoronettheatre.com/whats-on/the-wild-duck/

Yes that’s all true but even so I thought that the final key scenes in that production were brilliantly directed. They made his recent very pedestrian and very conservative direction of Henry IV all the more disappointing.

[Dave B]

Really enjoyed this.

The seats have had a bit of a refresh, much more cushioned and new upholstery (possibly even new seats, not quite sure) and there is a tiny bit more leg room. Not enough, I cannot physically fit into them so am reliant on picking my usual aisle seat but the most comfortable visit I have had there.


The production is slow and deliberate running pretty much bang on 3 hours. Slight issues with surtitles with a couple of obvious pauses and then speeding through some lines too fast to be read.

Minimal staging so all focus is on the cast and they are uniformly excellent. Short run but suspect will be a big hit for Coronet.

[jake]

Oct 19, 2024 23:26:41 GMT Dave B said:

Really enjoyed this.

The seats have had a bit of a refresh, much more cushioned and new upholstery (possibly even new seats, not quite sure) and there is a tiny bit more leg room. Not enough, I cannot physically fit into them so am reliant on picking my usual aisle seat but the most comfortable visit I have had there.


The production is slow and deliberate running pretty much bang on 3 hours. Slight issues with surtitles with a couple of obvious pauses and then speeding through some lines too fast to be read.

Minimal staging so all focus is on the cast and they are uniformly excellent. Short run but suspect will be a big hit for Coronet.

Thanks for this.  It's an ideal write-up for my purposes - eloquently expressed opinion and very useful information while avoiding spoilers.

I wonder if you could expand on the surtitles.  The big problem at When We Dead Awaken wasn't speed or synchronisation but positioning.  I'd expected something like the ROH with the translation displayed high above the action.  Instead, we got a screen that seemed barely shoulder height and not even visible, let alone legible, if one of the characters was in your eyeline.  How is it now?  Is it better situated?  How easy do you think it will be to read from the front row?  It's not that big a deal for me; but if it's anything like the last time I probably need to advise my companion to read the play (or at least a synopsis) beforehand.

[Dave B]

Oct 20, 2024 7:54:20 GMT jake said:

I wonder if you could expand on the surtitles.

Sure, there are three positions for them. All are at maybe seven, seven and a half foot above the stage so quite comfortable above the cast. There is a set straight on above centre stage and then a set on either side, the small set has been built at an angle so the side surtitles are easily read - at least on the one side the curve you are sitting on slants you towards.

Behold my amazing image editing powers to give you a very rough idea, the red lines are where they will appear

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}

I suspect no issue with them from any seat in the house and I assume they will have been working on the slight pacing issues

[jake]

Oct 20, 2024 9:04:36 GMT Dave B said:

Oct 20, 2024 7:54:20 GMT jake said:

I wonder if you could expand on the surtitles.

Sure, there are three positions for them. All are at maybe seven, seven and a half foot above the stage so quite comfortable above the cast. There is a set straight on above centre stage and then a set on either side, the small set has been built at an angle so the side surtitles are easily read - at least on the one side the curve you are sitting on slants you towards.

Behold my amazing image editing powers to give you a very rough idea, the red lines are where they will appear

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}

I suspect no issue with them from any seat in the house and I assume they will have been working on the slight pacing issues

Thanks.  That looks much more practical than the arrangement for WWDA.

[Jan]

This is very good. Very straightforward but well acted and directed. Reminded me of the superlative Michael Grandage Donnar production. 4*

[bordeaux]

I'm surprised this doesn't have better publicity or backing or a more prestigious venue - if it's a major European theatre producing a classic play. Anyone know why that is? Sounds great, by the way, I'd love to see them.

[Jan]

Oct 25, 2024 13:27:26 GMT bordeaux said:

I'm surprised this doesn't have better publicity or backing or a more prestigious venue - if it's a major European theatre producing a classic play. Anyone know why that is? Sounds great, by the way, I'd love to see them.

The only theatres with any commitment to hosting foreign language productions are the Coronet and Barbican. I’ve always thought the NT should have developed links with European “national” theatres like the Comedie Francaise and hosted reciprocal short seasons of each other’s productions. But the simple fact is that the NT is not in the slightest bit interested in Europe, they’re too in thrall to the USA. I can think of two foreign language productions they’ve hosted in the past 40 years.

[bee]

I saw this last night. I struggled with the surtitles at first, the text was moving quite quickly so for the first half hour or so I was having to read those continually and wasn't really paying much attention to the actors. Eventually I managed to adapt, or possibly they just started speaking more slowly.

Anyway, this was excellent, a pretty straightforward rendition of the play by an excellent cast. I was especially impressed by Hermine Svortevik Oen (who apparently is still at school) as Hedvig.

I was worried by the 3 hour running time but it never felt like it was dragging. A really good production.

[jake]

This is very impressive. As always, of course, I can only speak for myself but, at the same time, I can point out that there didn’t seem to be any empty seats in the auditorium* and the audience genuinely seemed rapt throughout. I don’t usually like much messing about with a playwright’s creation and there’s no getting away from the fact that there are cuts here but they are reasonably – what’s the word – judicious. It must be said, though, that the cuts are hardly minor and occasionally I thought the narrative was slightly impeded** The performances we saw, though were top notch in my opinion. Of course, I don’t speak Norwegian so I suppose it’s possible the actors were fluffing their lines all over the place; but I don’t think so. And the body language and intonation were both gripping and, often, revelatory**


The stripped back set worked very well. I usually like my period props but such an approach might have been impractical here – especially as most of us needed clear sight lines to the surtitles- which I found rather easier to see than I had for When We Dead Awaken. A period feel, anyway, is adequately conveyed by the largely homespun costumes.


I’m quite surprised to see quite a few seats still available for Saturday’s last two performances. All I can do is recommend it and say it really deserves to sell out. In my comments on the Almeida’s Roots I made a bet with myself that the three hours at the Coronet would seem shorter than the hundred minutes at the Almeida. I think I won!


*though I suspect there was at least one as, just before the start, someone complained rather audibly that he wouldn’t be able to last three hours in the Coronet’s seating and apologised, presumably for brushing past people on the way out.


** Possible spoilers:



It’s not just a matter of trimming the odd line or dispensing with minor silent characters from the ‘thirteen at table’ opening. Speaking characters like Molvik, Pettersen and Graberg do not appear. I couldn’t tell whether the production re-assigned some of their lines but the absence of Graberg does rather make old Ekdal’s first appearance a bit mysterious for people like my companion who have never seen or read the original.


The presentation, though, gave me deeper insights into a piece I thought I already knew quite well. To take two examples:


The presentation of Relling as a rather scruffy individual is something I don’t remember from other productions and it’s not the way I usually read the doctor’s character. But it makes sense of Gina’s distrust of his influence on Hjalmer and caused me to ponder on whether Relling’s enabling indulgence – of Molvik’s debauchery and Hjalmer’s self-delusion – isn’t potentially almost as dangerous as Gregers’s unbending idealism.


The way Gregers sometimes hovers over Hedvig is a bit risky in these times where we see possible sexual predation everywhere, but what it brought home to me was the extent to which he suddenly sees the girl as his half-sister and, had she survived, the possibility that he would have tried to run her life the way he did Hjalmer’s.