I can understand why, as the director’s note in the programme points out, Henrik Ibsen wasn’t exactly keen on the translated title of Gengangere, originally written and performed in Danish, as Ghosts. It has nothing to do with ‘ghosts’ as they are generally understood – the only white sheet in this production is used as a tablecloth, and nothing else. This faithful production – ‘faithful’ in the sense that it isn’t a radical reinterpretation, and remains set in its original 1880s setting, complete with appropriate period costumes – is not nearly as controversial now as it was in Ibsen’s lifetime: the Lord Chamberlain’s Office censored it in Britain, because it was and is, in part, about syphilis and children born out of wedlock.
Moral dubiousness and questionable conduct on the part of members of the clergy is nothing new to us in the twenty-first century. By way of example, in 2024, the then Archbishop of Canterbury tendered his resignation. Here, Pastor Manders (Darren Chancey) commits an act that he thought went unwitnessed. The audience, very quickly, knows better. Equally unsurprising to contemporary audiences is the pastor’s insistence on traditional family values that are acceptable to goody-goody church folk, and by default, utter condemnation of anything and everything that doesn’t fit his view of how the world and everyone in it should operate, regardless of whether he practises any of it himself.
It is easy to see quite how progressive the play was in its time – Regina (Stella Robinson), maid to Helene (Caroline Bleakley), is always civilised but nonetheless stands up for herself in ways one might not expect from someone in domestic service. Helene’s response, too, is considerably kinder than most employers, even by today’s standards, in keeping with her liberal and open-minded ideology. Naturally, this puts her at odds with the pastor, despite her (Helene’s) trust in him to run the affairs of the orphanage established in memory of Helene’s late husband.
This in-the-round, or, technically, in-the-rectangle, production runs without an interval, and rightly so – the dramatic tension would have dissipated had there been a break in proceedings. A rather harrowing closing scene is stretched out after the last line of dialogue by a moment of darkness before the lights come up for the curtain call. Usmaan Khan as Helene’s son Oswald, demonstrates considerable commitment to the role, with convincing emotional intensity as someone compelled to return to the family home in circumstances not of his choosing. Completing the set of on-stage characters is Jacob (Martin Halvey), Regina’s father: Halvey’s performance solidly lives out the idea that there is no such thing as a small part in a play.
It’s bleak stuff, but with such solid performances, it’s a thoughtful and worthy ninety minutes well spent.
Review by Chris Omaweng
How many lives can a dead man destroy?
The memory of Captain Alving looms large over his family, but he was not the paragon of virtue he appeared to be.
His wife has kept his secrets for years, but when the sins of the father are visited on the son, the family’s perfect image is shattered. Mrs Alving thought she had escaped the ghosts of the past, and saved her son Oswald from them, but his return triggers a series of events that expose buried secrets and prove that history is doomed to repeat itself.
Regina Engstrand – Stella Robinson
Jacob Engstrand, her father – Martin Halvey
Pastor Manders – Darren Chancey
Helene Alving – Caroline Bleakley
Oswald Alving, her son – Usmaan Khan
Written by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
Adapted by Richard Eyre
Director – David Emmet
Set Designer – Juliette Demoulin
Sound Designer – Chloe Park
Lighting Designer – Andrew Whadcoat
Costume Designer – Juliette Demoulin
Composer – Chloe Park
GHOSTS
The Questors Theatre
16 to 24 January 2026
