This televised stage production of Henrik Ibsen’s final play sees an elderly sculptor confront his past when he re-encounters his former muse.
Professor Arnold Rubek (Alexander Knox), a celebrated but spiritually exhausted sculptor, is vacationing at a mountain spa with his much younger wife, Maja (Irene Hamilton). There, he is unexpectedly reunited with Irene (Wendy Hiller), the muse and model for his masterpiece, “The Resurrection Day”. He had cast her aside years ago after the sculpture was complete, leaving her feeling that he had stolen her soul for his art. While the restless Maja finds herself drawn to the coarse bear-hunter Ulfhejm (Brian Cox), Arnold and Irene are forced to confront their shared past of artistic ambition and emotional sacrifice. They decide to ascend the mountain together, a symbolic journey that leads to a final, tragic reckoning.
This production is a valuable record of Manchester’s 69 Theatre Company, a key force in regional theatre and the direct antecedent of the Royal Exchange. Director Michael Elliott’s staging of Henrik Ibsen’s final, allegorical play was transferred to the studio, preserving a stark and challenging piece of theatre for a television audience. The play itself, a difficult examination of artistic compromise and emotional sterility, is not an easy fit for the small screen. Its power is generated by the central performances: Alexander Knox as the self-absorbed artist and Wendy Hiller as the ghostly muse whose life was sacrificed for his masterpiece. The broadcast is a clear example of a BBC policy that treated significant theatrical works as culturally important events.
Broadcast: BBC Two, 1 Episode, 21 October 1970
Written by: Henrik Ibsen
Translated by: Michael Meyer
Director: Michael Elliott
Producer: Ronald Travers
Design: Joanna Bryant, Marilyn Taylor
Main Cast: Wendy Hiller (Irene), Alexander Knox (Arnold Rubek), Irene Hamilton (Maja), Brian Cox (Ulfhejm), Roger Swaine (Inspector of the Baths), Brenda McGuinne (Nun)
