Little Eyolf
Klein Eyolf is a play by Henrik Ibsen .
content
Rita and Alfred have a disabled son named Eyolf. Asta, who is (initially) referred to as Alfred's sister, also lives in a large house by the sea. Alfred tries his hand at writing. He gives up his plans and decides to turn more to his child, which is viewed with suspicion by his wife. A pied piper arrives unexpectedly while Alfred is explaining his new decisions. The pied piper explains how she catches the animals with the sound of a jew's harp and drives them into the sea. Eyolf suddenly disappears and drowns in the sea. The couple's relationship falls apart over the bereavement. Alfred turns to Asta and wants to leave his wife. In the end, Asta no longer withstands the advertisements of a road builder and flees with him. Rita remains imperturbable, as a replacement for Eyolf she wants to take care of the many street children who are now supposed to "take turns" taking Eyolf's place while eating. Interested in the new task, Alfred abandons his plan to leave Rita and supports her in her project.
interpretation
The binding force that children have for couple relationships is rarely discussed in theater. Ibsen does it in Little Eyolf, who is not little at all, because relationship planets, called parents, circle around him. Ibsen has created a timeless relationship box that could also fit into German mid-terrace houses. His characters take on more and more contours in the course of the piece, in which more and more typical characteristics of men and women become clear without the piece threatening to tip over into flat clichés. Despite the bereavement in the family and in spite of all the unspoken abysses that are typical for Ibsen and that always come to light, the piece takes a positive turn at the end. The piece encourages you to get involved with children, tasks and relationships. Ibsen’s message could be: The world does not need lonely egolings (like Alfred at the beginning of the piece), but courageous and relational tacklers like Rita.
Performance history
The piece has recently experienced a renaissance because it "deals with the parent-child problem and the conflict between self-realization and responsibility that are virulent in our increasingly childless and meaningless ego-society."
Productions (selection)
- First performance: Theater Royal Haymarket London December 3, 1894
- German-language premiere: Deutsches Theater Berlin , January 12, 1895
- Schauspielhaus Bochum , premiere November 21, 1986, director: Fritz Marquardt (under the title Eyolf ), with Hedi Kriegeskotte (Rita Allmers) and Martin Buchholz (Eyolf)
- Berliner Ensemble 1996, director: Fritz Marquardt , with Martin Wuttke (Alfred Allmers)
Film adaptations
- The Rat Wife , Armchair Theater (TV series) April 1958, directed by Stuart Latham
- Little Eyolf , BBC Play of the Month July 1982, directed by Michael Darlow , with Anthony Hopkins (Alfred Allmers), Diana Rigg (Rita Allmers), Peggy Ashcroft (Pied Piper)
- Jazeere (TV feature film) 1991, directed by Govind Nihalani
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christine Dössel, Süddeutsche Zeitung May 26, 2007, quoted in on night review
- ↑ Sunday news Herne on sn-herne.de ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
