When Henrik Ibsen’s play Ghosts first opened in London in the late 19th century, The Daily Telegraph described it as “an open drain: a loathsome sore unbandaged; a dirty act done publicly”.

Now the play is enjoying double critical success both in Islington, under the auspices of director Richard Eyre, and in this new English Touring Theatre translation by director Stephen Unwin.

“It is a very controversial play,” says Unwin, who admits he and Eyre heard about each other’s rival productions at a point when they had both gone too far down the line to stop.

“It’s very challenging in a lot of ways. Ibsen asks this question through a lot of his plays – how do you become a full human being? How do you take responsibility for your actions and fulfil your potential, while on the other hand you have a duty to the people who are dependent on you?

“It’s a complicated problem that we all face – it’s a very modern contradiction that lots of people deal with all the time. It’s a very important and interesting question which is why I love Ibsen and have done a lot of his plays – and will keep doing them.”

Ghosts follows the widow Helen Alving as she dedicates an orphanage she has built to the memory of her dead husband.

She has been keeping her husband’s philandering a secret from her son Oswald and hopes to deplete his inheritance so he doesn’t get anything from his father – a man she once tried to leave but was convinced to return to by her spiritual advisor Pastor Manders.

There are more revelations to come however – taking in other inheritances, euthanasia and incest – all of which horrified Victorian society.

“There is a related question which is how much truth can Mrs Alving tell,” says Unwin, who used contemporary Victorian translations to feed into his new take on the play.

“Should she tell the truth about his father to Oswald? How much can you tell your children and is there any value in keeping things secret from them?

“The play was written in 1881, and there are some early translations which are very accurate and detailed, but have language which is almost unspeakable because of the Victorian origins.

“I have translated it into modern English – and people who have seen it say they understand the play much better than they usually do. It’s very clear and direct.”

In Ghosts, Ibsen attacks the patriarchal society of the time.

“There are five characters in the play, and there are two men over 50 who run everything,” says Unwin, who last directed a version of the play 12 years ago.

“One of those men is deeply corrupt and the other one is a fool. As a man over 50 I find that quite shocking and fascinating.

Striking a chord

“The challenge Ibsen sets to us is that these patriarchies are not necessarily the right way for families, people and things to be run well. In a radical town like Brighton it will strike a big chord.”

The production is backed by Simon Higlett’s designs, which have been inspired by one of Ibsen’s Norwegian contemporaries, Edvard Munch.

“He designed for a version of the play in Berlin in the year of Ibsen’s death [1906],” says Unwin.

“We only have the drawings and paintings of his designs, there are no photographs of these early productions. It’s interesting because Munch knew Ibsen as another great Norwegian.”

He says reactions to the tour have been positive, with 200 members of the audience staying behind after a performance in York to talk with the cast and director.

Ghosts marks Unwin’s swansong as artistic director of the Rose Theatre Kingston and sees him teamed up again with English Touring Theatre, the company he founded 20 years ago.

“Pip Donaghy [playing Engstrand] was in the first English Touring Theatre production alongside Alan Cumming,” remembers Unwin.

“There are a whole lot of special things about doing this. The show ends in Brighton which is somewhere we always used to come when I ran the English Touring Theatre.

“When you were trying to get a cast together for a tour, if you mentioned it was going to Brighton you would always get a smile and a sense that they would do it!”

  • GHOSTS is being performed at Theatre Royal Brighton, New Road, from Tuesday, December 3, to Saturday, December 7
  • Starts at 7.45pm, with matinees on Thurs and Sat at 2.30pm, tickets from £10, call 0844 8717650