Halvard Solness, a leading architect at the height of his fame, is paralysed by fear. Fear of the younger generation. Fear of irrelevance. Fear of the past catching up with him.
When young, enigmatic Hilde Wangel bursts back into his world, she reminds him of the promise he made her ten years ago.
As she inspires him to even greater heights, Solness is forced to confront the true cost of his success. Will his final creation set him free, or be his downfall?
Greg Hicks stars, reuniting with Arcola’s Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen following sold-out productions An Enemy of The People and Richard III, in this bold new staging of Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece about ambition and legacy.
-
Running time
2 hours 30 minutes (including interval) -
Age guidance
TBC -
Content warnings
-
Discounts
Concessions available
Pay What You Can Tuesdays
-
Captioned performance
-
Relaxed performance
Praise for Mehmet Ergen’s previous productions:
"This is Ibsen stripped to the bone and delivered with rare urgency"– The Guardian, on An Enemy of the People
"Absolutely cracking… Ergen’s production [is] thrillingly tense"– Independent on Sunday, on An Enemy of the People
"Thoughtful and thought-provoking"– British Theatre Guide, on The Cherry Orchard
The Company
-
Henrik Ibsen
Playwright
-
David Edgar
Translator
David Edgar
Translator
David Edgar’s original plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company include Destiny (1976), Maydays (1983, Plays and Players best play award), Pentecost (1994, Evening Standard best play award) and The New Real (2024) His work for the National Theatre include The Shape of the Table (1990), Albert Speer (2000) and Playing with Fire (2005). His adaptations include a multi-award-winning version of Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby (RSC, 1980-1) and A Christmas Carol (2017). In 2018 he wrote and presented a touring solo show, Trying it On. In 1989 he founded Britain’s first graduate playwriting course, at the University of Birmingham. His book about playwriting, How Plays Work, was published by Nick Hern Books in 2009.
-
Mehmet Ergen
Director
Mehmet Ergen
Director
Mehmet Ergen is the co-founder and current Artistic Director of the Arcola Theatre, London, founding and co curating Arcola’s annual Grimeborn Opera Festival as part of this role.
He was co-founder and the first Artistic Director of the Southwark Playhouse, Associate Producer at the Battersea Arts Centre, Opera Season Advisor and judge for BBC Radio drama.
-
Robert Innes Hopkins
Designer
Robert Innes Hopkins
Designer
Theatre credits include: Stage Kiss (Hampstead Theatre), Anne Boleyn The Musical (Hever Castle), All’s Well That Ends Well, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus, Don Quixote, Oppenheimer (RSC), Neville’s Island, Speed the Plow, Clybourne Park (West End), Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Cry Baby, Kenny Morgan (Arcola), Other Desert Cities (Old Vic), The Crucible, Swallows and Amazons (Bristol Old Vic), King Lear (Chichester Festival Theatre/BAM).
Opera credits include: Die Fledermaus (Opera Theatre St. Louis), La Traviata (LA Opera, US), Tamerlano, Belshazzar (The Grange Festival), Parsifal, Tristan und Isolde, Tosca (San Francisco Opera), La Traviata (San Francisco Opera), Brand New Orchestra Shell, Siegfried, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Rigoletto (Lyric Opera Chicago), In Parenthesis, War and Peace, Rigoletto, Flying Dutchman (Welsh National Opera).
-
Richard Williamson
Lighting Designer
Richard Williamson
Lighting Designer
Previous work includes: The Olivier award winning Rotterdam (West End/Off-Broadway/UK National Tour), Crocodile Fever (Arcola Theatre), Dogs of Europe (Belarus Free Theatre at the Barbican Centre and international tour), Richard III, An Arab Tragedy (Swan Theatre Stratford/International tour), Sampled and Danse Élargie (Sadler’s Wells), Great Expectations (UK tour), Little Miss Sunshine (Arcola Theatre and UK Tour), Fiddler on the Roof and The Comedy about a Bank Robbery (Istanbul), Beowulf, Septimus Bean and His Amazing Machine, Jason and the Argonauts (Unicorn), What’s On Stage ‘Best Production’ Winner Thebes Land (also video), New Nigerians, Drones Baby Drones (also video), Shrapnel (also video), Mare Rider, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Country (Arcola Theatre), A Political History of Smack and Crack (Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre), Oedipus at Colonus (Cambridge Arts Theatre) and The Body (Barbican Centre).
Richard trained at LAMDA, is a Trustee of the Kings Head Theatre, is a board member of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, and develops industry-leading applications zoomOSC and zoomISO.
-
Aoife Beaumont
Assistant Director
Aoife Beaumont
Assistant Director
Aoife is an Irish London based theatre practitioner with a background in directing and facilitating community based projects, Aoife currently works with Almeida Theatre, The Old Vic as well as previously with youth based charity organisations such as White City Theatre Project, Youth Realities, CSSF and Young Ealing Foundation. Aoife is Participation Coordinator at Arcola Theatre where she creatively leads many of their programs.
-
Rob Kelly
Casting Director
Book your tickets
Event Instance Listings
-
Fri 16 Oct
7pm
Preview
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 17 Oct
7pm
Preview
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Mon 19 Oct
7.30pm
Preview
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Tue 20 Oct
7.30pm
Preview
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Wed 21 Oct
7.30pm
Preview
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Thu 22 Oct
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Fri 23 Oct
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 24 Oct
2.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 24 Oct
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Mon 26 Oct
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Tue 27 Oct
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Wed 28 Oct
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Thu 29 Oct
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Fri 30 Oct
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 31 Oct
2.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 31 Oct
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Mon 2 Nov
7.30pm
Captioned performance
-
Captioned performance
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
-
Tue 3 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Wed 4 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Thu 5 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Fri 6 Nov
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 7 Nov
2.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 7 Nov
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Mon 9 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Tue 10 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Wed 11 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Thu 12 Nov
2.30pm
Matinee
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Thu 12 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Fri 13 Nov
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 14 Nov
2.30pm
Relaxed
-
Relaxed performance
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
-
Sat 14 Nov
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Mon 16 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Tue 17 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Wed 18 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Thu 19 Nov
2.30pm
Matinee
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Thu 19 Nov
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Fri 20 Nov
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 21 Nov
2.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 21 Nov
7pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out
Photo by Barry McCall, artwork by Steph Pyne.