Riassunto analitico
L’obiettivo del presente studio consiste in una approfondita analisi su come il mondo del teatro europeo – specialmente inglese – sia cambiato grazie al drammaturgo norvegese più importante del diciannovesimo secolo, Henrik Ibsen. Dopo alcune importanti e necessarie informazioni storiche e culturali di base sulla formazione del moderno stato norvegese e dati biografici e personali su Ibsen, l’attenzione si sposta sulla promozione delle sue opere in Europa, dove è stato per decenni il protagonista principale di controversie giornalistiche, ma soprattutto nel contesto inglese, uno dei paesi più prolifici e interessati alla promozione di questa nuova figura. Qui, infatti, si crearono due fazioni – Ibseniani e anti-Ibseniani – che si scontrarono a lungo sui giornali, gli uni lodando, gli altri criticando le sue opere. Tra i primi, ci furono importanti figure maschili dell’epoca, ma soprattutto molte figure femminili, tra cui attiviste – Eleanor Marx-Aveling – traduttrici – Henrietta Frances Lord – e, non meno importanti, attrici – Janet Achurch e Elizabeth Robins. Il legame con il mondo femminile fu alimentato dall’interesse di Ibsen per i diritti delle categorie inferiori della società, le donne al primo posto. I ruoli femminili delle opere di Ibsen divennero l’aspirazione massima per molte attrici inglesi e non, che si adoperarono per interpretare donne così originali e diverse dalla tradizione, che voleva invece sul palco personaggi fragili e angelici. Al contrario, Ibsen presentò donne molto forti, sicure e potenti, spesso protagoniste stesse delle sue opere. Il caso più clamoroso in Inghilterra fu legato alle varie rappresentazioni dell’opera Et Dukkehjem – Casa di Bambola – per i temi considerati fortemente immorali da una società ottocentesca profondamente patriarcale. A seguito della prima vera performance inglese dell’opera, nel 1889, le critiche si accesero come mai prima. Per il forte interesse nei confronti di quest’opera, si creò negli anni una vera e propria tradizione per le attrici nell’interpretare il personaggio che più scandalizzò il pubblico, e che permise una distribuzione ancora più estesa di Ibsen: Nora Helmer.
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Abstract
The present study aims at presenting a thorough analysis of how Henrik Ibsen – the most important and influent Norwegian playwright of the nineteenth century – strongly influenced and transformed the conventional and fixed rules of theatre worldwide, with a particular focus on how his works affected first Europe, and then England. Ibsen achieved the status of the father of modern drama, due to the fact that he introduced many new features and techniques within theatre, among which a new kind of language and portrayal of the lives of the bourgeoisie.
The first chapter provides an essential introduction to the Scandinavian and Norwegian cultural and historical background. Norway can be considered to be a relatively young country, due to the fact that it took shape quite late with respect to the other European countries. Norway in fact reached the right to a proper Constitution only in 1814, when it became independent from Danish control. From 1814 to 1905 the country was under Swedish control and started its Nation-building process, during which a national culture and consciousness – along with new infrastructures (universities, theatres, museums) – started to take shape. The second chapter focuses on the Henrik Ibsen’s life and works and discusses how he came to be referred to as the father of modern drama, as well as an iconoclast, reformer and pioneer. A list of all his works is provided followed by the main features he introduced in the world of theatre: realism and everyday – that consisted in the use of realistic props on stage and the display of ordinary themes and facts throughout the plot – a new role for women connected with a new role of marriage and motherhood, the bourgeois society, metatheatre, stage techniques and a new use of language. In the third chapter a study on how Ibsen’s works were received first within Scandinavia, then in Europe – Germany and France, Italy and Spain – will be discussed. The main focus is Ibsen’s reception in England, where critics and the press were divided between supporters and opponents of Ibsen, labelled respectively Ibsenites and anti-Ibsenites. Within the former group, the most influent figures, who played an essential role in promoting the playwright in England, were William Archer and Edmund Gosse, as well as Eleanor Marx, Janet Achurch, Elizabeth Robins, to name a few. These artists and intellectuals promoted Ibsen’s works translating them and publishing several articles about him on the major English newspapers and journals of the time. The fourth chapter provides an analysis of women activists – Eleanor Marx – translators – Henrietta Frances Lord – and actresses – Elizabeth Robins and Janet Achurch – who promoted Ibsen in England, while actively fighting for women’s emancipation within a patriarchal society. The second part of the chapter is dedicated to an analysis of the main female characters in Ibsen’s works, in order to understand why they were so important in the struggle for women’s rights.
The fifth and last chapter is an analysis of Ibsen’s most iconic play, A Doll’s House. This work created a scandal because of the themes it dealt with and marked a turning point in the history of theatre, with many actresses wishing to interpret the main character, Nora, probably one of the most interesting among Ibsen’s women.
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