Ghosts Resources
Websites
The place to go for all things Ibsen: biography, pictures, current productions, production history, etc. It's awesome.
Features the articles of renowned Ibsen translator and scholar Brian Johnston, whose teaching influenced this module a good deal.
Check it out. This is where Mrs. Alving lives. Beautiful but pretty austere.
All you need to know about the sexually transmitted disease that Oswald and Captain Alving suffered from.
More about Ibsen's turf.
Movie or TV Productions
The 1981 BBC production with Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh. Check it out as part of the Henrik Ibsen Collection available here:
A West German version.
If you want to get in a good Scandinavian groove – and get to know a provincial priest much like Pastor Manders – watch this wonderful Ingmar Bergman film. Just watch any Ingmar Bergman film. The guy's a genius.
Historical Documents
Of course the famous anarchist dug this play. Check out her 1914 review here.
Written in the hand of the man himself.
More of Ibsen's penmanship. He's writing to his publisher to predict the furor that Ghosts will provoke. It may be worth learning Norwegian for this. Let us know.
Video
Check out part of Act 3. Judi Dench has amazing eyebrows.
Gespenster is the German title for Ghosts. You don't have to speak German to enjoy this cool trailer and think about the play in a different way. Mrs. Alving is super-sexy, as is Pastor Manders, Oswald's not that attractive. You'll recognize the round table in this minimalist set.
If you're into dance, check out this trailer and pick out who's who.
Wow, it's gorgeous there. Take a look.
The great acting teacher talks about her approach to Ibsen. You might just want to get her terrific book, Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov.
Audio
Images
Ibsen just a couple of years before Ghosts came out.
A few years after Ghosts came out. Nasty critics will turn your hair white.
Yeah, it's a little dark, but Ibsen was a dark guy.
An 1881 cartoon depicting the response to Ghosts. Lots of other great cartoons on this site.
This Danish painter was a contemporary of Ibsen's. Checking out some of his paintings may give you an idea of how the Scandinavian world looked at that time.