One of the great things about plays from past centuries is that they can be restaged or updated in different eras, with different genders and colorblind casting. Shakespeare's work lends itself to adaptation well, and I think I have seen more versions of Strindberg's Miss Julie than I care to admit. Henrik Ibsen's work is firmly in another time and rooted in Scandinavian culture. Gwydion Theatre's staging of Ghosts has an eerie vibe and taciturn Lutheran morality.
It does not stray far from the original but is more frank about the deceased and dissolute Captain Alving. Jeanne Scurek does fine work as Alving's widow. Helen Alving is every inch the lady of the manor financing an orphanage in honor of her husband. Despite her knowledge of her husband's philandering and his real legacy, she wants to keep up the image of a good Christian woman.Her friendship with Pastor Manders (Phil Aman) further burnishes her halo. Aman's performance as Manders is spot on as a minister who lives a double standard. Manders dispenses the Lutheran version of Catholic indulgences by catering to Mrs. Alving. It was always easier for those who tithed and donated to have their sins forgiven in any religion.
Ibsen's work aims at hypocrisy and makes the fallout devastating despite the machinations to the contrary. Mrs. Alving has raised Regina, the daughter of the local wastrel Jakob Engstrand (Stephen Fedo), in her upper-class household as a seeming act of charity. Regina (Ellie Thomson) does her best to be perfect in Mrs. Alving's eyes and rejects her father's attempt to have her work in a refuge for sailors, aka brothel. Regina is seen meticulously cleaning and dusting before Pastor Manders arrives and Mrs. Alving's son Oswald (Tommy Thams) returns from a long European trip.
Director Jimmy Piraino does a good job keeping the storyline clear despite the buried secrets and machinations. Jakob Engstrand is a hustler and known arsonist, and Regina's reaction to him wanting her as a hostess at his home for sailors is done with measured fury. Things get frayed when Oswald Alving returns from his travels, and the pacing goes off the rails. Oswald is ill and, to Regina's delight, wants to marry her. Fedo's Jakob gets the pacing back on track when he reports an accident at the orphanage. Of all people, Engstrand coerces Pastor Manders to finance his home for sailors.
Fedo and Aman play well in the comic scene of Manders trying to tap-dance his way out of trouble. They get the best lines in the play. Engstrand is upfront about his motivations to hustle money and how to make it happen. Manders wants the same thing but hides behind the pastor's collar and stoic mien. The action goes Grand Guignol between Thams and Scurek as they come to terms with Captain Alving's legacies. Oswald is slowly going mad and catatonic from congenital syphilis, and there is yet another cat to be let out of the bag.
Scurek plays the wounded mother wanting her baby home and is mortified by what has happened. The scenes between them also go off the rails and get overwrought. Yes, it is a horrible thing to watch the effects of late-stage syphilis, but Thams gave an uneven performance, between drinking his life away and then having the "fits" of syphilis victims thought to go mad. I see the fury in Thams' character and wish he had sustained that fury over whiny despair. She kept whispering "ghosts" as if she did not know about the living ghosts in her life or how to sustain a decent legacy.
The austerity of the set design by artistic director Grayson Kennedy symbolizes Helen's life and how alone she must have been for years. White sheets over the furniture, dark wood, and that brocade sofa (!) were on point 19th-century decor. Maddy Asma's great, spooky portrait of Captain Alving obscures his face since his loutish behavior was kept behind a veneer polished by Helen.
Gwydion Theatre has been doing some fine social dramas sine moving to Chicago from Los Angeles two years ago. I reviewed Odets' Waiting for Lefty last year and enjoyed how prescient the play was about the same issues being seen today. Gwydion also staged Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth in 2024, a timeless story of young people trying to find their way to maturity. I recommend this production of Ghosts but wish that the women's performances were more feral. I wanted Thomson to rip Jakob to shreds. I kept wanting to see the whole "hell hath no fury" scene and was disappointed with how the character of Helen was played or directed. I wanted to see Scurek in full fury because Helen knew that Oswald was paying for his father's sins. The beats of the play need to be on track so that the actors play off each other consistently.
Ghosts is playing in the upstairs theater in the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Running time is 90 minutes. Tickets and information are available at www.gwydiontheatre.org.
For more information on this and other productions, see theatreinchicago.com.
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