Ibsen's political comedy in a crisp and satirical version by Andy Barrett.

Bratsberg is a man of tradition. He thinks manners, knowledge and education are the foundations of a good society, but are his values dated? Monsen is an entrepreneur who believes success comes from hard work, but can he be trusted? Stensgard is a radical. He can see that change is beckoning and that he should be the man to drive progress forward. But when real power becomes a possibility how will he respond?

A play about political ambition and opportunism, the conflicts of class, the difficulties of breaking open long established systems, and the ways in which political expediency can lay waste to idealism.

Written as a response to political change in Norway, The League of Youth was Henrik Ibsen's first truly successful play, and is a clear precursor to The Pillars of Society, A Doll's House and An Enemy of the People. Its vivid characters are instantly recognisable as the prototypes for many of his greatest creations.

This English version by Andy Barrett was first staged at Nottingham Playhouse in 2011.

About the Author
Born in Norway in 1828, Ibsen began his writing career with romantic history plays influenced by Shakespeare and Schiller. In 1851 he was appointed writer-in-residence at the newly established Norwegian Theatre in Bergen with a contract to write a play a year for five years, following which he was made Artistic Director of the Norwegian Theatre in what is now Oslo. In the 1860s he moved abroad to concentrate wholly on writing. He began with two mighty verse dramas, Brand and Peer Gynt, and in the 1870s and 1880s wrote the sequence of realistic 'problem' plays for which he is best known, among them A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, Hedda Gabler and Rosmersholm. His last four plays, The Master Builder, Little Eyolf, John Gabriel Borkman and When We Dead Awaken, dating from his return to Norway in the 1890s, are increasingly overlaid with symbolism. Illness forced him to retire in 1900, and he died in 1906 after a series of crippling strokes.

Reviews

'Andy Barrett's new version does an excellent job... allows us, without pushing the point, to savour the topicality of a play in which principles are sacrificed for power'

* Guardian *

'A wonderful adaptation'

* Left Lion *

'Andy Barrett's new version brings fresh meaning to what I suspect is an impenetrable original'

* Whatsonstage.com *



Book Information
ISBN 9781848421882
Author Henrik Ibsen
Format Paperback
Page Count 116
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books
Weight(grams) 120g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 128mm * 8mm