2021
Webinar: Silence in Ibsen's Ghosts: Tensions between Dialogue and Movement
Lianna Elizabeth Stewart examines Norwegian National Ballet's contemporary ballet adaptation of Ghosts titled Ghosts - Ibsen's Gjengangere (2014).
Time: Nov. 2, 2021 2:00 PM–3:00 PM. ZOOM.
Stewarts claim is that adapting Ibsen’s problem drama into a ballet creates a tension between modernism and idealism. The acquisition of perfected technique, feminist critiques of male constructed ideas of femininity, and the overall obsession with the ideal are all steadfast principles linked to the classical ballet tradition. Such characteristics still dominate the framing of this modern ballet version of Ghosts and juxtaposed with Ibsen’s modernity, amplify certain quintessential themes in Ghosts through the complex interplay between façade and reality.
Her interest lies in the use of the ballet form and how it elucidates themes such as gender, sexuality, power, and the destructive power of silence in Ghosts. By utilizing ballet as an art medium to present this Ibsen play, these themes are highlighted on stage due to the contrast between the form and the content. In other words, the significance of researching a ballet adaptation of Ghosts lies in the complex juxtaposition between Ibsen’s modernism and classical ballet aesthetics.
Taken from her thesis, this seminar focuses on the chapter revolving around the theme of silence. Implicit silences in Ibsen's text, which play a vital role in the action of the play, become explicit when adapted into a medium deprived of dialogue. Applying Toril Moi's claim that silence carries a field of meaning, Lianna Elizabeth Stewart highlights examples from the text and how they translate into the dance medium. The production uses certain theatrical elements to create what Kier Elam calls a “metaphoric substitution” to associate ideas with the theme of silence. These silences become explicit objects or movements on stage. Ghosts signifying past events, denial of agency, the power of duty, and heredity are the metaphorical themes of silence that Lianna considers in the ballet.
The male - more than a human being?
How can the males in Ibsen's dramas be understood today based on the concept of masculinity, and how does the masculine serve as an agent to shape character, personality, individual fate and dramatic effect in his plays? The webinar is a presentation of Birgitte C. Huitfeld's thesis in progress entitled Prisoners of the Self?- Ibsen's men. New perspectives.
Time and place: May 27, 2021 2:00 PM–3:00 PM, Zoom.
Huitfeldt's study examines Ibsen's male characters from Catiline onwards, with a focus on the plays' male protagonists. Are the male figures in these works shaped by nature or culture, society, family, heritage, or the environment? Where and how is the male manifested? In what ways can we talk about his masculinity today - does it have meaning as shaper of character? Regardless of whether we understand the various nuances and faces of masculinity in Ibsen's plays to be the result of society, inheritance or individual development, the texts always strike at the heart of something masculine and humanly inaccessible and hidden. And what exactly is this something? Can it be articulated and understoood as symbol, language, fate, motive, or action? The selcted plays are all imbued with an essentially masculine tenor - a shadow or dark undertone of doom. Perhaps this is not so strange, considering the texts were witten by a man? But to what extent was Ibsen himself aware of his masculine dramatic methods and portrayals, or was he at all concerned with masculinity? Huitfeldt examines the role of the male as a husband as well as the possibilities, manifestations, and limitations that lie within the masculine in work by work, layer by layer. With Ibsen as a fellow travelller, the question is asked:
Who is he really - the male?
Birgitte C. Huitfeldt is a literary scholar with a Master from UiO (2004) on Camilla Collett's novel the District Governor's Daughters. She is the author of four published books on women in Norway and internationally and has many years of experience in writing for various publications, among others the literary series Ytringskrigen (The War on Free Speech). She was an assistant researcher at the Centre for Ibsen Studies in 2008.