Ibsen update: intense or mundane?

Bridge Theatre

Following his visceral adaptations of Yerma and Phaedra, writer/director Simon Stone has turned his attention to Ibsen’s The Lady From The Sea. Screen stars Alicia Vikander and Andrew Lincoln, plus Joe Alwyn and Brendan Cowell, impressed the critics but opinions varied on the quality of the adaptation. As a modern day middle class marriage comes under fire, some found it intense, others thought it was meandering and an insult to Ibsen. Lizzie Clachan’s traverse set uses a lot of water in the second act to metaphorical effect, which most critics enjoyed but some found over the top.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar commented: ‘Simon Stone is known for his rock’n’roll takes on the classics. This is a characteristically high-octane version of Ibsen’s play: loud, modern and led by screen stars Alicia Vikander and Andrew Lincoln. Yet his script, again created in the rehearsal process, retains all of Ibsen’s layers and adds some of its own in the updating’. She talked of : ‘the full-bodied intensity of the production, which is fantastically original, gripping and magnificent to the end.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis called it ‘a dense, emotionally intense and often hilarious three hours – and god knows, belly laughs aren’t common with Ibsen – marred by a certain glibness.’ He explained: ‘As he formerly did with Lorca’s Yerma and Seneca’s Phaedra, Stone rebuilt the play in rehearsal with his cast, and they’ve worked hard to create a psychological and narratively coherent modern parallel for Ibsen’s ocean-worshipping mysticism…It works, but it reduces the play to being all about daddy issues.’

Dave Fargnoli of The Stage praised the stars and the writer: ‘Heading a uniformly strong cast, Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander’s Ellida roils with subdued emotion, her anxieties and divided loyalties visibly bubbling under the surface’…’Andrew Lincoln gives a consummate performance as neurologist Edward, maintaining an air of focused calm and fairness in the face of continual provocation’…’Stone’s contemporary dialogue is fast-paced and ferociously entertaining, equal parts realistic rhythms and deliberately grandiose pronouncements.’

WhatsOnStage’s  Sarah Crompton  said: ‘The script is demotic, flowing, beautifully written, and the entire cast inhabit it with ease, drawing the lines of character with power and subtle’ but complained: ‘The production, however, is clumsier than the script. I took against Lizzie Clachan’s staging – in long traverse, with the audience surrounding the playing area – that means from where I was sitting, I viewed events through a table, or from the back of a sun lounger.’ She concluded: ‘It is a hugely enjoyable evening, full of insight and provocation.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Matt Wolf writing for The Arts Desk declared: ‘Like the lighting that crackles now and again to indicate an abrupt change of scene or mood, Simon Stone’s version of The Lady from the Sea is illuminated by the sense of adventure and excitement one has come to expect from this singular artist.’

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming found: ‘Stone’s dialogue crackles with wit…It’s peppered too with truths about love, the competing urges for freedom and security, the intensity of youthful emotions that blaze in the memory, the legacy of parental failings and frailties. Above all there’s the uncertainty and restlessness of living in such a messed-up world. It’s also superbly acted.’

Tongue in cheek, Andrjez Lukowski of TimeOut described a pattern in Stone’s adaptations: ‘rewrite the whole thing into aggressively modern English that revolves around long, light hearted stretches of posh people swearing amusingly, season with a bit of Berlin-indebted stage trickery, and finally change tack and wallop us with the tragedy, right in the guts.’ He concluded: ‘when it’s serious, it’s very good. And when it’s silly it remains maddeningly entertaining.’

Dominic Maxwell of The Times commented: ‘It’s full of skill and ingenuity. But the 21st-century self-awareness drowns out Ibsen’s alluring strangeness as much as it makes it resonate.’

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish felt: ‘The snag is that the staging, by Australian hotshot Simon Stone (with semi-abstract design by Lizzie Clachan), leaves his cast first high and dry on an exposing platform, then drowning in directorial overkill, as a deluge turns the set into a raised pool.’

Fiona Mountford of the i started positively: ‘The great news is that Andrew Lincoln …and… Alicia Vikander – in her London stage debut – make for a phenomenal central pairing as a distinguished older man on his second marriage and an attractive younger woman on her first.’ However, ‘The trouble with Stone’s updating of this story – of past loves returning to haunt current lives – is that he attempts to afford too many characters too great a slice of the dramatic action.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

Alice Saville of The Independent was damning about Stone’s adaptation: ‘He’s taken Henrik Ibsen’s tragic fable and extended it into something both lengthy and oddly mundane, bloated with new dialogue that namechecks OnlyFans and Nineties rap groups. It’s an unlikely showcase for the talents of a confident Andrew Lincoln..and..Alicia Vikander, who seems understandably adrift making her stage debut in this directionless play.’ She went on: ‘it feels as though, in laboriously engineering a plausible 21st-century setting for Ibsen’s story to unfold in, Stone has lost sight of what this play’s actually about.’ She decided: ‘It’s all a bit undignified for poor Ibsen… this play thoroughly retools his dialogue without finding a language for his symbolism.’

The Mail’s Patrick Marmion was also disappointed, describing the main characters as ‘a blandly homogenous bunch of wittering, health-conscious hedonists, without a cultural, moral, or political compass between them.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3.2⭑

Value rating 35 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)

The Lady from the Sea can be seen at the Bridge Theatre until 8 November 2025.  Buy tickets directly from the theatre

Click here to read Paul Seven Lewis’ review of The Lady From The Sea

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