
Rosmersholm
4.2 (25) · Modern
Tom Burke and Hayley Atwell star in Duncan Macmillan‘s startling new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s gripping and piercingly relevant work of personal and political passion.
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Overview
An election looming. A country on the brink. A rabid press baying for blood. At the centre of the storm is Rosmersholm, the grand house of an influential dynasty. This is where the future will be decided by John Rosmer – a man torn between the idealised hope of the future and the ghosts of his past.
‘Ibsen’s masterpiece’ (Michael Billington, 2008) is a twisting thriller and stars two electrifying actors in the leading roles. Tom Burke (Strike, The Musketeers) is the soulful Rosmer haunted by history and tradition. Hayley Atwell (Howards End, Captain America) is Rebecca West, one of Ibsen’s greatest heroines. Enigmatic and unpredictable, free-spirited Rebecca brings the winds of change to Rosmersholm with the force of a hurricane.
Rosmersholm is the tenth collaboration between Sonia Friedman Productions and director Ian Rickson (including The Birthday Party, Mojo, Old Times, Betrayal, Jerusalem) and marks a second time working with award-winning writer and director Duncan Macmillan, who previously collaborated with Sonia Friedman Productions on the West End and Broadway run of 1984, which he co-adapted/co-directed with Robert Icke. His other plays include People Places and Things which enjoyed huge success in London and New York.
Critic reviews
Hayley Atwell gives a rich performance in a production of Ibsen's resonant play
Hayley Atwell and Tom Burke help give Ibsen a grippingly modern resonance
The politics are bang up to date in a drama in which passions are raging over equality, free thought and even democracy
The detail of the playing and the flair of the staging – the ending is as brilliant as it is shocking – make a strong case for this play and its heady mix of sex and politics
The personal and the political collide on an epic scale
The political truths of this classic play are at times quite stunningly relevant today
Hayley Atwell and Tom Burke smoulder in absorbing Ibsen revival
Both Atwell and Terera are hugely watchable, and there is plenty in the debate around the manipulation of news and the suspicion of politicians that chimes with the British political scene today
Duncan Macmillan’s deft but daring tweaks underline the majesty of this sexually charged study of faith and heartbreak
Hayley Atwell steals the show in this strange, timely Ibsen obscurity
Ibsen’s drama is given sharp contemporary relevance in this staging
The best bits of Rosmersholm are very, very good