Alexander Hurt, Nick Westrate (Photo: Gerry Goodstein)

The Wild Duck

By Deirdre Donovan

The first major Off-Broadway staging of The Wild Duck has winged into Polonsky Shakespeare Center for a brief sojourn, in a co-production of Theatre for a New Audience and Shakespeare Theatre Company. David Eldridge's new version infuses fresh energy into the old play. Directed by Simon Godwin-making his debut with Ibsen-this production arrives with the prestige of its London Donmar Warehouse 2005 premiere, where it was met with critical acclaim. Staging The Wild Duck is no easy feat, with its intricate blend of tragedy, dark comedy, and potent symbolism. Yet Godwin rises to the challenge, grounding the 5-act play in a realistic setting that evokes late 19th-century Norway while drawing out its timeless tensions.

At the center of Ibsen's drama is Gregers Werle (Alexander Hurt), the idealistic yet unyielding son of a wealthy merchant, whose determination to expose uncomfortable truths shatters the fragile life of his school friend, Hjalmar Ekdal (Nick Westrate). Meanwhile, Hjalmar's young daughter, Hedvig (Maaike Laanstra-Corn), unaware of the deceptions surrounding her, seeks solace in protecting the wounded wild duck that gives the play its title - a duck Werle shot before the play began.

 

Robert Stanton Photo: Hollis King

But Gregers' relentless pursuit of "righteousness" unleashes devastating consequences, and suffice it to say, tragedy and comedy become a mingled yarn in Ibsen's 1884 classic. The drama pivots around these two families, the Werles and the Ekdals, and their history. Years earlier, Håkon Werle and Old Ekdal were business partners implicated in a timber fraud. Though Werle was acquitted, Old Ekdal was convicted and imprisoned, a disgrace that still shadows his family. The action unfolds over two nights and two days, with Simon Godwin's direction ensuring the scenes move seamlessly. The brisk pacing proves essential, heightening the sense of urgency as Gregers Werle's relentless probing into the Ekdals' secrets chips away at their fragile domestic life.

 

Maaike Laanstra-Corn, Melanie Field (Photo: Gerry Goodstein)

Class divides are starkly drawn, with Ibsen opening The Wild Duck in the opulent home of Håkon Werle (Robert Stanton), who hosts a party to celebrate the return of his son Gregers after 15 years of self-imposed exile. Guests include political allies and Hjalmar Ekdal, Gregers's old school friend. But the evening is interrupted when Hjalmar's disgraced father, Old Ekdal, now reduced to occasional clerical work for Werle, appears, uninvited. In one of the production's sharpest moments, the servant Miss Pettersen (Tracie Lane at this performance) discovers him wandering through the house, icily demands to know his business, and instructs him to use the right door when he leaves.

Andrew Boyce's two-set design underscores the play's class tensions. Act One situates us in the Werle estate, a study in luxury with green velvet sofas, a polished desk, and candlelit tables. The remaining four acts shift to the Ekdals' modest home: a studio where Hjalmar pursues his photography and an attic garret transformed into a shabby "game preserve" for Old Ekdal and young Hedvig, who nurses the eponymous wild duck there.

The production boasts a strong ensemble led by the sharply defined portrayals of Gregers (Alexander Hurt) and Hjalmar (Nick Westrate). David Patrick Kelly is heartbreaking as Old Ekdal, inhabiting his fantasy "forest" with weary dignity. Melanie Field's Gina balances pragmatism with the lingering guilt of her past as Werle's mistress. Laanstra, as 14-year-old Hedvig, captures both childlike simplicity and the quiet tragedy of a girl losing her eyesight. Robert Stanton is equally well cast as Werle, the wealthy industrialist whose past misdeeds haunt both families.

Ultimately, The Wild Duck is a parable about the peril of imposing "truth" on others. Ibsen suggests that a measure of self-deception-those "life lies" that cushion us-may be not only forgivable but necessary for survival.

For Ibsen enthusiasts, this Wild Duck is not to be missed. While New York has recently hosted An Enemy of the People, A Doll's House, and Ghosts, opportunities to see The Wild Duck are rare-and rarer still with such a distinguished cast.

The Wild Duck

At the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Pl, Brooklyn

For more information, visit www.tfana.org

Running time: 2 hours; 30 minutes with intermission

Through September 28