Ghosts
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Ibsen’s 1881 family drama is a condemnation of rigid Victorian society’s mistreatment of women usually overshadowed by his more famous dramas A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler.
Mark Garvin
People’s Light & Theatre Company offers a rare opportunity to see Henrik Ibsen’s 1881 family drama — a condemnation of rigid Victorian society’s mistreatment of women usually overshadowed by his more famous dramas A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler. Ghosts features Kathryn Petersen as a wealthy widow who finances an orphanage to honor her late husband. Her bohemian son’s return from Paris and a moralistic financial advisor’s visit stir long-suppressed memories of past misdeeds, strangled passions and buried family secrets. Late, great American dramatist Lanford Wilson (Talley’s Folly, Fifth of July) translated the play, giving it contemporary resonance. Keith Conallen, Peter DeLaurier, Ian Merrill Peakes and Mary Tuomanen complete director Ken Marini’s must-see cast. Ghosts serves as a unofficial companion piece to EgoPo Classic Theatre’s Ibsen season, which continues with A Lady From the Sea in February and Gint in May.
Through Feb. 9, $26-$46, People’s Light & Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500, peopleslight.org.
