The Lady from the Sea

Book synopsis: David Eldridge's new version of Ibsen's classic play, published to coincide with its premiere at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, October 2010. When the lighthouse keeper's daughter Ellida meets the widower Dr Wangel, she tries to put her long-lost first love far behind her and begin a new life as a wife and stepmother. But the tide is turning, an English ship is coming down the fjord, and the undercurrents threaten to drag a whole family beneath the surface in this passionate and sweeping drama. Ellida must choose between the values of the land: solidity and reliability against those of the sea: mystery and fluidity. Ibsen's lyrical and still startlingly modern masterpiece, anticipated the emergence of psychoanalysis and talking cures. Similar to Hedda Gabler and A Doll's House, The Lady from the Sea vibrantly explores the constrained social position of women, exploring themes of choice, marriage, responsibility and freedom. David Eldridge's translation is subtle, faithful and sensitive to Ibsen's language, and makes this classic play accessible to the English reader without compromising any of the original's intensely poetic and atmospheric tone.