The Theater: Absent from Oneself

THE LADY FROM THE SEA

by HENRIK IBSEN

At a time when women were perceived as gentle suppliant chattels, Ibsen was probing the feminine psyche in depth. Ellida (Vanessa Redgrave) is an Ibsen heroine who finds herself. She owes much to a husband, Wangel, who is patient, wise and totally generous, precisely those qualities that Nora's husband, in A Doll's House, lacked. Ellida is tormentedly neurotic. She is the doctor's second wife, and she married him for financial security, not love.

The spectral lover in her mind's eye is a man known only as the Stranger (Richard Lynch), a romantic seafarer.

The sea itself obsesses...

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