Ibsen's two versions of The burial mound. A comparison of the stage directions of the two versions of the play

Ellen Karoline Gjervan

doi:10.7557/13.3371

Authors

Ellen Karoline Gjervan NTNU

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3371

Keywords:

Stage directions, Ibsen as a practical man of the theatre, theatrical space, the 1850s theatre culture, Det norske Theater in Bergen.

Abstract

In this article I compare and discuss the differing stage directions of the two versions of Ibsen’s play The Burial Mound. Furthermore, I explore how the variance regarding the stage directions of the two versions of the play can be explained by Ibsen’s increased theatre affinity, due to his work as stage director and stage manager at the theatre in Bergen during the early 1850s.

Author Biography

Ellen Karoline Gjervan, NTNU

Ellen Karoline Gjervan is an associate professor at Queen Maud University College, in Trondheim, Norway. Gjervan defended her PhD-dissertation, Creating Theatrical Space – A study of Henrik Ibsen’s Production Books, Bergen 1852-1857 at the University of Bergen, Norway, in 2010. This first study of the production books that Ibsen kept while employed at the theatre in Bergen, focuses on how Ibsen created and used theatrical space and on how the theatre culture of the 1850s shaped Ibsen’s spatial practice as well as his recording of this practice in the production books. In 2005, she co-authored a textbook on dramaturgy, Dramaturgi – forestillinger om teater published by Universitetsforlaget, Oslo. She has published articles on the stage machinery and scenery of the 1850s theatre, and on Henrik Ibsen as a practical man of the theatre.