Four Plays/Henrik Ibsen

With an Introduction by Ellen Rees, Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo.
The plays of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) are critically acclaimed
throughout the world. The father of modern drama, Ibsen broke with theatrical conventions
and created a more realistic form of drama that used the stage as a forum for debating
social problems, notably the rights of the individual, and the damaging effects
of orthodoxy.

This collection of four plays contains, A Doll's House (1879) and Hedda
Gabler (1890), his most striking depictions of the struggle by individuals - especially
women - to realize their full potential; it also presents Peer Gynt (1867), an early
verse tour-de-force, not originally intended for the stage, on the nature of the
self, and The Master Builder (1892), a play that explores the clash between the
old and the new in richly metaphorical language. This collection returns to the
acclaimed translations of William Archer (1856-1924), who through these renditions
played a major role in promoting Ibsen's reputation outside Norway. Archer was also
a critic, who with actress Elizabeth Robbins and dramatist George Bernard Shaw was
central in the modernisation of English theatre.