Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Henrik Ibsen
-
Standard Name: Ibsen, Henrik
The plays of Henrik Ibsen
, nineteenth-century Norwegian poet and dramatist, were both controversial and enormously influential in Britain; their use of realist techniques to address contemporary social problems helped to bring about a revolution in English drama. Elizabeth Robins
and Florence Farr
played important roles in getting his plays staged in England, and Robins interpreted his characters on stage. After the 1889 production of A Doll's House in London, British feminists claimed Ibsen as an ally, and his name became closely associated with New Woman writers such as George Egerton
and Mona Caird
. Githa Sowerby
and Elizabeth Baker
were among the many dramatists influenced by his work.
In this an advanced woman, Nora, smokes as a protest against existing prejudices.
Briggs, Julia. A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit, 1858-1924. Hutchinson.
68
The heroine's name suggests that either Nesbit or Bland had been quick off the mark in digesting the message of Ibsen
Intertextuality and Influence
G. B. Stern
While in her teens GBS
composed two one-act Waiferage plays. The heroine of one, a lonely understudy in a fifth-rate touring company, worships the leading man from afar and feels ecstatic when the leading lady...
Intertextuality and Influence
Teresa Deevy
TD
began writing as a child, producing stories about family doings for her mother and sisters. During her last years at school, from 1911, the school magazine, St Ursula's Annual, featured her stories. Living...
Leisure and Society
Kate Parry Frye
When in London KPF
enjoyed going to the theatre, often with John Robert Collins
. She loved Votes for Women! by Elizabeth Robins
in April 1907, thought Ibsen
's A Doll's House splendid in March...
Literary responses
Kathleen Caffyn
While this novel enjoyed popular acclaim, it also attracted severe criticism. It was derided by reviewers in the Bookman, the Critic, and the Nation. The Critic reviewer ignored Gwen's final return to...
Literary responses
George Paston
Early reviews praised the novel for its wit and humour, though the Athenæum was condescending about the heroine for being just a little Ibsen
ite, a little Woman's Rights, a little emancipationist, but as...
Occupation
Naomi Jacob
Briefly back in London in 1944, she returned to the stage as the mother of a troupe of performing acrobats in a stage adaptation of Margery Sharp
's novel The Nutmeg Tree.
Bailey, Paul. Three Queer Lives: An Alternative Biography of Fred Barnes, Naomi Jacob and Arthur Marshall. Hamish Hamilton (Penguin).
167
In...
Occupation
Elizabeth Robins
This first, unadapted, public production of the play in England was stirring up controversy, particularly because of its resonance with contemporary debates about marriage and women's rights. The following month Robins took on her first...
Occupation
Florence Farr
At Shaw's bidding and with his assistance, FF
began taking roles associated with the New Drama. He persuaded her to take the role of Rebecca in Ibsen
's Rosmersholm, and coached her to...
Occupation
John Millington Synge
At this time he abandoned his dream of pursuing classical music as a career, because public performance made him intensely nervous. Instead, he read Ibsen
and began, for the first time, writing a play of...
Occupation
Edith Craig
The costumes were judged to be a success, and the performance marked a turning point in her theatrical career. She branched into costume design (having formed a company, Edith Craig and Co.
, which was...
Occupation
Mary Angela Dickens
The Silver King was well received and accelerated the careers of its playwrights, Henry Arthur Jones
and Henry Herman
. The two later co-wrote Breaking a Butterfly, one of the first English adaptations of...
Occupation
Elizabeth Robins
ER
attended the first London production of Ibsen
's A Doll's House, which she described as [r]emarkable and thrilling.
John, Angela V. Elizabeth Robins: Staging a Life, 1862-1952. Routledge.
53
Occupation
Elizabeth Robins
ER
opened in the lead role in Ibsen
's Hedda Gabler, a production which also marked the beginning of her career in theatre management.
Demastes, William W., and Katherine E. Kelly, editors. British Playwrights, 1880-1956. Greenwood Press.
353
Other Life Event
Ella Hepworth Dixon
EHD
helped William Heinemann
, William Archer
, and Elizabeth Robins
put on a reading of Ibsen'sJohn Gabriel Borkman in London for copyright purposes. She played a small part, which she read in German...
