From Library Journal
Students and theater artists engaged in either the study or performance of Ibsen's work have traditionally encountered the dichotomy of being faithful to Ibsen's intense realism while struggling with conservative and stilted translations. Davis and Johnston, a director/dramaturg and a professor of dramatic literature, respectively, responded to this inherent difficulty by collaborating to create new and excellent translations of four of Ibsen's most produced plays: A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, and Hedda Gabler. Standard English translations by Michael Meyer and Rolf Fjelde are comparatively dense and theatrically thick next to Davis and Johnston's texts. Their efforts are more forceful, given the production-oriented impetus of their original work together. The profanity, for example, found throughout An Enemy of the People is not diluted as it is in most translations, but given full vent. Davis and Johnston have successfully translated Ibsen for the contemporary stage, and this major work will be of significance to anyone involved with the playwright's work.?Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In his time, Ibsen was a radical and freethinker who loved to shock the sleepy bourgeoisie with his art. You would never guess this from the stuffy, stiff, unspeakably dull translations of his plays long current in the English-speaking theater. Rick Davis and Brian Johnston attempt to ameliorate this lamentable state of affairs with new versions of
A Doll's House,
Ghosts,
An Enemy of the People, and
Hedda Gabler. For the most part, they succeed. The immensely readable translations of the latter two plays in particular are absorbing, exciting, and inspired. Less satisfying is their
Ghosts, a play, however, which has long been unsatisfying, thanks to its medically discredited premise that venereal disease is hereditary. All four of these versions have been "production-tested," which shows in their graceful and believable dialogue and their sheer theatricality. Davis and Johnston have unlocked the power in Ibsen's works and made it clear why Ibsen was once
the playwright for firebrands, Fabians, and other progressives throughout the world.
Jack Helbig
