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Arcola Theatre, London,
Writer: Henrik Ibsen, adapted by David Edgar
Director: Mehmet Ergen
Cast: Louisa Binder, Sally George, Peter Guinness, Greg Hicks, Robin Hooper, Jade Williams, Ryan Wichert
Running time: two hours, 15 minutes, including interval
Dates of run: until November 21
On one of its many levels, Henrik Ibsen’s “The Master Builder” is an exploration of whether human beings can make things happen, good or bad, by sheer force of will.
The alternative possibilities are that they are manipulated by dark, troll-like forces or that God is the supreme architect to whose designs a pious bourgeoisie must dutifully submit.
The power of Ibsen’s play is in the tension between all the oppositions that are sharpened by Mehmet Ergen’s meticulous direction and augmented by our awareness the audience is complicit in all the willing as it anticipates a catastrophic outcome.
We can do nothing to prevent it, but then the characters of the play could make that argument too.
Greg Hicks is the Master Builder Halvard Solness. Slight and wizened and gruff, he is, superficially at least, the opposite of the luminous 23-year-old Louisa Binder as Hilda who bursts into his life as an agent of disruption and destiny.
The force of this production is realistic, but Binder’s Hilda, like Hicks’ Solness, blurs the boundaries. We are never entirely sure what is the truth and what is imagined.
The most powerful tension of all is between youth and jealous age; coming alive and dying. It is both timeless and in tune with our times of violent, youthful rebellion against ageing regimes.
The towering irony is that Solness’ obsession with one rival blinds him to the greater threat who seduces him into embracing what was ultimately his rational fear that the next generation would topple him.
The spell Binder casts over Hicks dominates the production, but with significant reinforcement.
Sally George is Solness’ bitter, enduring wife Aline, while Ryan Wichert plays Regner Brovik, a rising talent Hicks dreads, and Jade Williams is the shrinking, ill-used Kaja Fosli.
And then there is the doctor, reasonable and calm, as played by Peter Guinness, and, as unable as we are and even the master constructor Ibsen was to ward off the inevitable outcome to any life no matter its achievements.
The Master Builder,
Arcola Theatre, London,
Writer: Henrik Ibsen, adapted by David Edgar
Director: Mehmet Ergen
Cast: Louisa Binder, Sally George, Peter Guinness, Greg Hicks, Robin Hooper, Jade Williams, Ryan Wichert
Running time: two hours, 15 minutes, including interval
Dates of run: until November 21
On one of its many levels, Henrik Ibsen’s “The Master Builder” is an exploration of whether human beings can make things happen, good or bad, by sheer force of will.
The alternative possibilities are that they are manipulated by dark, troll-like forces or that God is the supreme architect to whose designs a pious bourgeoisie must dutifully submit.
The power of Ibsen’s play is in the tension between all the oppositions that are sharpened by Mehmet Ergen’s meticulous direction and augmented by our awareness the audience is complicit in all the willing as it anticipates a catastrophic outcome.
We can do nothing to prevent it, but then the characters of the play could make that argument too.
Greg Hicks is the Master Builder Halvard Solness. Slight and wizened and gruff, he is, superficially at least, the opposite of the luminous 23-year-old Louisa Binder as Hilda who bursts into his life as an agent of disruption and destiny.
The force of this production is realistic, but Binder’s Hilda, like Hicks’ Solness, blurs the boundaries. We are never entirely sure what is the truth and what is imagined.
The most powerful tension of all is between youth and jealous age; coming alive and dying. It is both timeless and in tune with our times of violent, youthful rebellion against ageing regimes.
The towering irony is that Solness’ obsession with one rival blinds him to the greater threat who seduces him into embracing what was ultimately his rational fear that the next generation would topple him.
The spell Binder casts over Hicks dominates the production, but with significant reinforcement.
Sally George is Solness’ bitter, enduring wife Aline, while Ryan Wichert plays Regner Brovik, a rising talent Hicks dreads, and Jade Williams is the shrinking, ill-used Kaja Fosli.
And then there is the doctor, reasonable and calm, as played by Peter Guinness, and, as unable as we are and even the master constructor Ibsen was to ward off the inevitable outcome to any life no matter its achievements.
Barbara Lewis © 2026.
By Barbara Lewis • added recently on London Grip, plays, theatre • Tags: Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre