Seeing Henrik Ibsen’s play The Wild Duck was a first for me and, according to director Simon Goodwin, it is rarely produced, though its impact ushered in a new dynamic in realism in the theatre. Its portrayal of edgily complicated family life was a groundbreaking concept in the Victorian era. Known in the late 19 th century as “Modern Drama”, Ibsen’s work affected and inspired playwrights such as August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov and George Bernard Shaw who wrote in 1887, “Where shall I find an epithet magnificent enough for The Wild Duck.. . to look on with horror and pity at a profound tragedy, shaking with laughter all the time at an irresistible comedy…”

The innovative nature of such a play for its time, The Wild Duck reveals the uncomfortable complexities and sticky real

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