Gespenster English

GESPENSTER An opera by Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen based upon "Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen

Composer:

Libretto:

Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen +47 40465005 t.aagaardnilsen@online.no

Malin Kjelsrud +47 92430035 malin@malink.no

English translation by Malin Kjelsrud

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SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PROCESS AND AN EXPLANATION OF WHY I HAVE WRITTEN THE LIBRETTO AS I HAVE. Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen's opera "Gespenster" based on Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts", libretto by me, will premiere at Meininger Staatstheater in 2020 - the same theatre that had the leading public premiere of Ibsens play in Germany in 1886 under the direction of the theatre's owner, the Duke George II. When I was asked if I would consider writing the libretto, I was somewhat unsure if "Ghosts" would be suitable as an opera.

I started researching; reading of secondary literature, watching the various productions of the play found in NRK's web archive, including Antonio Bibalo's 1984 opera, reading play reviews, essays and articles. I needed to know more about the time it was written to be better able to discern the differences from now and then. By the way, I found out that Ibsen himself emphasised that he did not want music in the speaking theatre performances of "Ghosts".

The assignment I was given - transforming an almost 140-yearold 3-act, in its original text relatively unfashionable play, into an hour-long chamber opera for a small crew, has been an exciting task. Along the way, the project grew in length, scene size and number of instruments and singers. The play is still being performed around the world in very different ways, so many people still obviously consider it relevant. When it was published in 1881, this naturalist play was rejected by theatres in the Nordic countries because it was seen as an attack on the existing social order, which it certainly was.

Society has changed a lot since, so my motivation for approaching the material now (in 2017 as I write this), lies in finding and reinforcing what in this text is still relevant

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today. There are also some (sometimes surprising) differences between modern Norway and Germany, which often spur interesting conversations og questions about who "we" are and why we culturally are the way we are.

Writing for opera is quite different than for speaking theatre. Singing a sentence takes much longer time than talking. So the text must be cut from about 22000 words to around 3-4000 words, and the remaining words must not only be as singable as possible, they must also retain both the drama and a poetic-artistic quality. My text is then recreated into German (by Dagfinn Koch), so there is an extra layer of linguistic challenges added.

Thanks to the dramaturge Kristian Lykkeslet Strømskag at the National Theatre in Oslo, I got access to Ingemar Bergman's rewritten version of "Ghosts" from 2001. Bergman has helped me not only to understand better what Ibsen probably meant, but also to be able to choose what to retain and what, though painfully, to cut. Not only did I choose to interpret the play as radically as I've dared, I have also written new scenes that Ibsen only suggests might have happened.

I decided early on to take the text apart and put it together in a new way. I have chosen to remove the fire in the newly built asylum and thus the focus on religion and society's possible negative reaction to insurance, as well as Helene Alving's reading of controversial literature. I rather want to focus on "internal fires", women's roles and motherhood, triangular love, lost love, infidelity, grief, unfulfilled longing, sexual orientation, incest, illness, euthanasia and suicide. I want to examine how knowing and keeping secrets can change and destroy individuals, and how people can harm

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themselves and others, both unawarely and as a result of relationships grown intoxicated.

I have tried as far as possible to keep Ibsen's words wherever possible, but large portions of the text are my words spiced with selected, adapted sentences derived from a "deconstruction poetry"-processing of the original play. (The process can be described as a method of constructing new sentences from the words in a text, and thus generate new text material. I have used the method in a previous video work, "Nemesis" from 2015, where I photographed all the words in the Ibsen quotes embedded along Karl Johan's street in Oslo and put them together into new sentences (sound design by Dagfinn Koch). Some of the text fragments from "Nemesis", have also worked their way into the libretto for "Ghosts". I used the deconstruction poetry method in my first libretto as well; "Black Days" with music by Hartmut Schulz, based on the novel "Back to the Future" by Sigrid Undset. See my website www.malink.no for more info.)

The music for this opera is, at the time I write this, not yet written. Some places in the libretto I have given the composer something I call a word bank. This is meant as compositorial possibilities, i.e. for giving the characters that are not involved in the current scene something to sing. I imagine the words and sentences woven into the background as a kind of abstract choir that helps emphasise the action and what the characters think.

Despite the fact that "Ghosts" is still performed world wide, I actually think of it as not particularly stage-friendly. I experience it as vague, archaic and meticulous. The text is retrospective; the characters mostly talk about events that

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happened back in time, and there is not so much action actually happening on stage. They talk and talk. I choose to write into the libretto some action that Ibsen only vaguely refers to. I want to show Helene Alving's intrusive, unpleasant memories. To facilitate this, I show her on stage both at a young age and at her current age. I also allow deceased characters to get on stage with the living, as a kind of ghosts to show Helene's memories. I initially wanted to let more of the characters, not just Helene, be present at different ages at the same time, maybe even future ages, but that cannot be done in this production. Having the opportunity to study a person in different times of their life, is an exciting way of evolving their character and create drama both on internal and external levels.

Since the fire in the asylum and all the drama around it has been removed, I have chosen to move Erik Alving's death to the present time. The storyline as I have written it takes place in the days between his death and the funeral. This gives the characters a logical opportunity to be in the same place.

It has been crucial for me highlight which aspects in Ibsen's original text are relevant in our day and age. As I see it, it seems strange that Helene Alving and the maid Regine would live alone in this house for the long years between Erik Alving's death and when Osvald suddenly decides to come home.

Without the fire in the asylum, Pastor Gabriel Manders would also has no reason to be there. That's why I've imagined him as coming to perform an old friend's funeral.

The way Ibsen wrote it, Osvald was put into boarding school as a little child. Would a mother today really send away a 6 year old child to boarding school to spare him the effects of his

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fathers wild life, as Helene claims to why she did it?

Probably not, at least not in Norway where many mothers' lives revolve around their children. Without hesitation many mothers expose large portions of their children's lives on social media, almost performing, acting a perfect, glossy family life. I think a modern mother probably would have gotten divorced, if she really feared for her child's life that way.

In my libretto, Helene is hindered from divorcing Erik by looming secrets and the threat of a horribly worsening personal economy. Since they are somewhat forced to stay together, they become immersed in mutual contempt and hate over the years. I think instead that Osvald must have become quite injured by growing up in this dreadful family situation; both parents constantly fighting, but also by his mother coming way too close to him, both mentally and physically.

Helene is using her son as a substitute for her husband in every thinking way. I think this whole situation is equally strong as an image of human perishing as Osvald being sent to boarding school as a child.

There is a tough balance between a librettist's opportunity to suggest action on the stage and what is the dramaturg's task.

As the singers are also actors, it is tempting for me to write further action than just singing. As I write, I see it as an inner movie with movements and action. In order to remember for myself what I have thought and to be able to explain why I wrote certain words, and in order to keep this text from becoming as talkative and in places stagnant as I find Ibsen's original, I feel the need to create some action on stage. An example: I let Osvald as a child (child actor, not a singer) hide and young Helene look for him (in the background while something else is going on. Only the audience and the older Helene sees this). Young Helene eventually finds the child

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Osvald and hugs him while the older Helene hugs the adult Osvald. Both Osvalds shrug away the mother in the same physical way, twisting out of her uncomfortable grip, to illustrate that this is not new. I have been asked to delete stage directions like these. But the manuscript will become quite confusing and lacking a lot of action without them. As for now, I leave the remaining directions.

There are so many emotions; love, hate, old grudge, horrible deeds, but also unbreakable bonds between the main characters in this opera, especially between mother and son. I choose to let mother and son enter into a suicide pact instead of following Ibsen's original text. Helene Alving is, at the end of this play, completely alone. Husband gone, lover long gone, no friends and now even foster daughter Regine leaves her.

When she realises for real that Osvald might die, she decides to join him. She can't stand the thought of being alone, and she will not allow him to leave her again. That is why I let them both die in the end.

Ibsen might have spun in his grave if he read my libretto, and I suppose Ibsen connoisseurs will be critical. But in order to give the play more relevance today, I have not taken that into account in the writing process.

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SYNOPSIS When the play starts, Erik Alving is recently dead. His wife, Helene Alving is in a state of shock. Even though Erik is dead, he is present at the stage through Helene's memories.

Throughout the play, Helene also sees a young version of herself, their son Osvald as a child and the late Johanne.

Memories that Helene would prefer not to remember, become clearer and require her to take a hard look at her own behaviour and mindset throughout her life.

In the first scene, the older Helene starts reminiscing about their marriage and long life together. As young and newlywed, she left her husband to be with her true love, Gabriel Manders. It is early morning and they are waking up in his bed. Helene, still joyful from the night they've just spent together, is happily looking forward to start a new life with Gabriel. He, however, is highly distressed and demands that they both forget what has happened. It is not mentioned whether she has any children yet, so the possibility of her becoming pregnant on this occasion with her son Osvald is present.

For pragmatic reasons, she goes back to Erik. Helene continues their marriage, strongly affected by an invincible and lifelong heartbroken grief over Gabriel. But Erik is rich and popular, has a position in society and a future bringing the opportunities she wants. Erik eventually makes Helene a member of the boards of several companies owned by him and his companions. It is implied that the position and prestige accompanies the marriage. The high standard of living she has become accustomed to will disappear if they divorce - a standard of living she is ready to give up immediately if only

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Gabriel wanted to have her.

As a board member in these various companies, Helene has discovered that Erik has done something illegal; a Secret that gives her the upper hand. If he wants to divorce her, she will reveal this Secret and he will end up in prison. But if she reveals The Secret, she will lose everything too. They use this Secret as a mutual threat. Bitter and disappointed, she therefore spends her life keeping the facade in order. The son Osvald becomes the whole contents of her life.

When they are young, Erik actually loves his wife. In the beginning of their marriage, he hopes that he eventually will be able to win her love. At the same time, he is not willing to waste his life, so he seeks love and excitement outside the marriage. Helene is most concerned with the facade and what people will say. She has a sharp tongue and is acting prudish and rejecting. Erik therefore is chronically unfaithful, in time even quite openly. He doubts, possibly rightly, that Osvald is his child. Through time, their marriage transforms into a mutual hateful relationship in which they get satisfaction by hurting each other. They use their son as a weapon against each other. Secrets, lies, threats and hurts make the both of them become cruel humans and harmful parents.

Johanne worked as a housekeeper at the young couple Alving's house, until Erik got her pregnant. Jakob Engstrand and Johanne were richly rewarded by the couple Alving to marry and let everyone believe that Regine was Engstrand's daughter.

Engstrand treated Johanne and Regine very badly. He sold Johanne as a prostitute to finance his own drug problem. When Johanne died, Helene and Erik took over the care of Regine, who was then about 11-12 years old. Now that she is an adult,

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she has her own apartment in the house, and she helps Helene around the house as a return favor for a place to live. Now Engstrand asks Regine to come and live and work at a hotel he intends to buy. Regine certainly will not join him.

Erik and Helene's son, Osvald, returns home to attend his father's funeral. He left the childhood home at the tender age of 16 to escape his parents. He is presently living and working in Paris as an artist, only visiting the childhood home when he absolutely must. Osvald and Regine resume the fling they have had going on since the last time Osvald was visiting. Regine has larger plans for her life than to stay with Helene. Without hesitation, she uses her body to get Osvald to promise to take her to Paris once his father is buried. She wants to live what she imagines is his life: a festive, artistic, bohemian, delightful chaos. She also wants to become an artist and has vague plans to write a book or maybe paint.

Gabriel has come to bury his old friend. Helene and Gabriel clean the air regarding their agonising secret from the past.

He still insists that nothing happened between them. She claims that the reason he rejected her was that Gabriel didn't love her, but Erik, which he shamefully admits. Because Gabriel glorifies Erik, she decides to tell him the truth about how awful the marriage with Erik was. She reveals to Gabriel that Erik is Regine's real father, not Engstrand.

Afterwards he bumps into Engstrand, who's been standing outside eavesdropping. Engstrand uses pompous and weird sayings that he invented himself which he thinks sounds profound and wise. He has, in a for us unknown way, gotten hold of information about the Secrets that the other characters want to keep hidden. We do not know what he knows,

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we only see the stress he's causing the others. He behaves in a cryptical, threatening and uncomfortable way towards Gabriel. Maybe Engstrand knows that Gabriel may be Osvald's biological father? They exchange a few words, and Gabriel finally really understands that Engstrand is a horrible man.

Gabriel leaves, but Engstrand stays behind, very pleased with himself. Johanne as a ghost comes to confront her former husband. She accuses him of killing her, but he cannot hear her. Her case will never be solved, because nobody can hear her.

Now that Erik is dead and she cannot escape the memories from her life, Helene begins to realise that she's been far too close and intimate with her son, both mentally and physically.

She now understands how injured he has become from the parent's contorted relationship, but more gravely, from her own abuse. Finally, after Erik is dead, she realises her own enormous guilt, but also that Erik really was the one she loved. Their relationship could have been good, if only she had allowed it.

Osvald and Helenes settlement with the past and present is a painful experience for both of them. He reveals to his mother that he is gravely sick and secondly, that he has decided on Regine as a life partner. But being so close to his mother makes him anxious and upset. He is obviously very damaged from all he has experienced in his childhood. Helene tries to explain and talk herself out of the blame, which makes Osvald furious. Helene becomes hurt and a need for punishment and revenge arises. She therefore asks Regine to come and drink champagne with them, - and then she reveals to them they have the same father. Regine then leaves.

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Disappointed, scared and angry, Osvald tells his mother more about his illness and that the next attack will likely leave him in the state of an infant. He refuses to live like that, and has made sure he has a way to escape if another attack comes: with an overdose of morphine pills. Osvald tries to persuade his mother to help him commit suicide if another attack comes. Helene cannot cope with the idea of living the rest of her life completely alone, everyone dead or gone.

Furthermore, her entire life revolves around Osvald. Helene and Osvald make a suicide pact. They are both used to her meddling in all sides of his life, so he isn't even allowed his own death. Her grip on his life is everywhere, even there.

When the next attack comes, she first helps him take the pills, then she takes the rest of the pills herself and follows him into death.

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CAST: HELENE ALVING, dramatic mezzo-soprano (Main character. In her late 40s in present time, the mother of Osvald. Has loved Gabriel since she was young.)

YOUNG HELENE, lyric mezzo-soprano (Different ages in different scenes: 20-30 years old) GABRIEL MANDERS, lyric tenor (A pastor, friend of the Alving family in present time and also The Young Helene's lover in past time) ERIK ALVING, tenor buffo (Helene Alving's husband, a playboy in past time, recently died in present time. A ghost, 30-40 years old) OSVALD ALVING, mezzo-soprano (pants role) (ca 25 years old, Alving's son, artist (painter), just returned from Paris to attend his fathers funeral and knowing he is dying. Possibly Gabriel Manders' son.)

REGINE ENGSTRAND, coloratura (Early 20s, Johanne's daughter, officially Engstrand is her father, but in reality it is the late Erik Alving. Foster daughter of the Alvings after Johanne died.)

JOHANNE, lyric soprano (A ghost, died ca 35 years old. Was Alving's housekeeper in past time, rewarded by Erik Alving for marrying Engstrand.)

JAKOB ENGSTRAND, bass (A sleazy, bad man, possibly killed Johanne) A boy, extra (Osvald 5 years old)

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CHARACTER

Scene 1

Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6 Scene 7

HELENE ALVING

x

x

x

x

x

YOUNG HELENE

x

x

x

x

x

GABRIEL MANDERS

x

x

x

ERIK ALVING

x

JOHANNE

x

x x

ENGSTRAND

x

x

REGINE

x

x

x

OSVALD

x

x

x

OSVALD AS A CHILD

x

x

x

SCENE DESCRIPTIONS Scene 1 Erik Alving is dead. His wife, Helene Alving, is in a state of shock and cannot hide from memories of old times. She sees herself as a young woman waking up in Gabriel's bed the morning after a night together. Gabriel is distraught about what they have done and decides that this must be forgotten.

He sends Helene back home to her husband, Erik. It is not mentioned if she has children at this time, so theoretically she may get pregnant with the son Osvald at this time. The observing older version of Helene summarises how easy promises given are broken and how easy one can fool oneself.

Scene 2 Helene continues to be invaded by old memories. She envisions a situation from the past: Erik around 30 years and Osvald as a child. Erik lets the boy smoke his pipe. Afterwards, Erik dances with Johanne. Helene sees the young version of herself

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enter the room and with one look grasp the situation. Erik actually really wants to be with his wife whom he loves deeply, but she can't manage to push Gabriel out of her heart.

At the same time, she is so concerned about the facade and that things are conducted decently. All this makes Erik go mad from grief, disappointment and anger and he can't stand being at home. With her cold rejection, Helene pushes Erik into unfaithfulness. He is full of joy and does not in any way want to waste his life on miserable and prudish marital duties. He wants to dance and live and have fun. That hurts the young Helene and makes her even more cold and meticulous. Erik talks about The Secrets that bind them together. Helene realises all this now. She acknowledges that she has a large portion of blame that the marriage became as bad as it did.

Scene 3 Osvald and Regine in present time. Regine wants to move up and forth in the world. She uses her body and mind to get Osvald to promise to take her to Paris once Erik is buried. She wants to live his life, which she imagines is a wonderful chaos of parties, art, friends and fun. She will also become an artist.

In Paris, they will work, write, paint and love.

Scene 4 Helene sees herself as young again, in Osvald's childhood bedroom. She insists that he shall only be hers, not Erik's child. She discovers that she took advantage of Osvald and grew too close. She transferred both the physical proximity and the mental intimacy which should have been reserved for her husband onto the child, and treats him as the father's surrogate in marriage. She finally understands that she hurt both Osvald, their mother-son relationship and the marriage with Erik.

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Scene 5 Engstrand and Regine enter the room, already in the middle of a conversation. He wants her to come home with him and later live at his hotel. She refuses.

Gabriel comes to Helene to talk about his speech for the funeral for his old friend. First, Engstrand asks Gabriel to help him convince Regine to join him. Regine refuses again, she has big plans for her life and love. Then she leaves.

Engstrand becomes cryptic and suggests that he knows something ominous about Gabriel, Erik and Helene. Gabriel gets upset. At the same time, Helene sees herself as young and Osvald as a child being in the room with them. Both Osvald the child and the adult Osvald are attempting to free themselves from their mother's tight grip, showing that this is nothing new. Osvald talks about how cramped it feels to be home and that he still needs to get out. Helene and Gabriel talk about the lies and repressed filth that have happened. Gabriel denies that they spent that night together. Helene claims that Gabriel did not love her, but Erik, and that is the reason that he rejected her. Helene tells Gabriel the truth about the marriage with Erik, and that Regine is not Engstrand's daughter, but Erik's.

That makes Osvald and Regine siblings, however - not if Gabriel may be Osvald's father. She says that she won't tell Osvald and Regine and states that they can be together anyway, what's important is that they are happy.

Gabriel and Helene talk about love and truth before they leave each other. The air is cleaned. Gabriel runs into Engstrand outside. He has clearly been eavesdropping. They exchange a few words, and Gabriel shows that he understands what kind of terrible man Engstrand is. Engstrand makes Gabriel understand

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that he knows about the Secrets, that Gabriel loved Erik and that Erik was an evil man. Gabriel leaves, but Engstrand remains, very pleased with himself. Johanne as a ghost appears from the shadows and tries to confront her former husband, Engstrand. She accuses him of killing her, but he cannot hear her. Her murder will never be solved, because no one can hear her.

Scene 6 The older Helene sees a situation she has forgotten. Erik tries to get his young wife to accept his love and become his for real, but she rejects him again. His heart breaks. The older Helene realises that she has changed a lot: ceased to think of the facade and duties. It hurts to recognise that she shouldn't have thrown away her entire love life grieving over Gabriel and punish Erik for not being him. Now, well into her years, she finally shares Erik's grief over their lost love, but he cannot hear her now. Now she is finally free, but lonely.

Scene 7 Osvald reveals to his mother that he is sick. They talk about Regine as a potential partner. Osvald feels really unwell when he is with his mother. The growing anxiety, his memories from childhood and sickness all affect him strongly. Helene talks about her role in the marriage with Erik. She asks Regine to bring champagne and join the conversation. Helene tries to explain, talk herself out of the blame. Osvald gets mad and just want to get away from his mother. She is hurt and reacts childishly. She changes her mind: as punishment and in anger, she discloses that Regine is Erik's daughter, and that they thus are siblings. This makes Regine want to leave. Osvald accuses Helene of being incapable of loving anyone. Osvald

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declares that he is very sick and asks his mother, if needed, to help him die. She can't live without him, and can't be alone. They make a pact. When his next seizure occurs, they will take the pills together. Even into death, Osvald can't escape his mother's clammy grip. Then the seizure comes and they do as agreed.

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SCENE 1 ON STAGE: HELENE, YOUNG HELENE, GABRIEL (Helene Alving enters the room, closes the door behind her.

Her husband, Erik Alving, just died. The elder Helene Alving is alone on stage. It's dark otherwise. Erik's death brings back old memories she cannot defend herself against.)

HELENE He is dead. I cannot forget what I cannot remember. Life lived at night, hides in broken hearts. Cannot forget. Don't want to remember.

(The morning light slowly undims to one of Helenes memories unfolding. We are at Pastor Gabriel Manders' home. Gabriel wakes up in bed next to Young Helene.)

GABRIEL Helene! You have to wake up! Helene!

YOUNG HELENE Is it morning already? My dear, I'm so happy! I love you. I have always loved you.

GABRIEL What have we done? You cannot be here! This should never have happened. I was too weak! Couldn't resist the power of desire!

I wasn't thinking clearly.

YOUNG HELENE The morning light has darkened your mind.

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GABRIEL You seduced me!

YOUNG HELENE I? GABRIEL (With a range of shifting emotions) No, we were seduced! Led astray! The devil's work... God has tested me. I failed! Oh God, what have I done!? This must be forgotten!

HELENE For God's sake, keep God outside of this! He shouldn't be blamed for your weakness.

YOUNG HELENE Ever since we were children we both knew: It should have been us. My mother pushed me: A good match was served. But it's you I want! Last night you loved me too! Last night we made plans.

Have you already forgotten? I am to leave Erik and be with you?

GABRIEL You and I can never... I? And YOU? No, it will be too difficult for me. Nothing good can come of this! Nothing! Go home to your husband.

HELENE To expose yourself to the opinions of others, was something you would not do! How easy it is to promise a future, love and happiness. Just as easy is it to forget the promises you gave.

How easily one can be fooled. How easily one can fool oneself.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 21 SCENE 2 ON STAGE: HELENE, YOUNG HELENE, ERIK, JOHANNE, OSVALD AS A CHILD [WORD BANK: Luxury everyday food. Cellulites. Perfection. Cake. Children's safety. Theme Parties. Meditation. Gluten free. Summer body.

Wedding. Self healing. Wish board. Gluteus. Bliss. Beautiful children. Thigh gap. Smart kids. Time squeeze (tidsklemma).

Teeth whitening. Recycling. Self-confidence now! Girls night out. Blow job. Wrinkle-free. Curtains. Self-care. Resting pulse. Flooring. Fitness. Run! Perfect eyebrows. Mother's love. My prince! My princess! Wellness. Beauty. Carbohydrates.

How to succeed. Caring. Shopping. The zodiac diet. Botox.

Benzo. Wedding dress. Baby. BMW.] (The older Helene observes a scene from her memory. In the living room. Osvald (5 years old) is sitting on his father's lap) HELENE Confused old memories refuse to let go. In this house we lived as living dead, united in our sins.

ERIK (Lights a pipe. Osvald grabs it and puts it in his own mouth) You look big now, Osvald! Smoke, my boy! Smoke away!

(Osvald coughs, becomes unwell, the father laughs. Johanne enters the room. Erik arises, puts the son on the chair, grabs Johanne and spin her around and hums) Come on, Johanne! Let us dance! In this house joy and life have long been missing.

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JOHANNE (Fakes strictness. First reluctantly, then loosening up, laughs.)

Erik! What are you doing?

ERIK Helene never wants to dance with me.

(Imitates Helene) "This is not proper". Dance with me, Johanne!

(They dance. Someone knocks on the door, young Helene comes in, Erik lets go of Johanne.)

YOUNG HELENE (Opens the door, stops abruptly) So, this is how it is.

(Dryly states) ERIK (Grabs young Helene and tries to spin her around in the same way.)

Dance with me, Helene! Life is not just a game, it is also a bed of roses.

(Helene wrestles out of his grip) You strict, serious wife, like a ghost... Would you not rather want to be among us living?

(Erik tries once more to approach Helene, smiling, dancing) Dance with me, Helene! Kiss me on the street so that everyone can see! Dance with me today, tomorrow, forever!

YOUNG HELENE Let me go! This is highly inappropriate! What are people going to think? Johanne, you can go now.

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ERIK ALVING (Turned toward Johanne, who's on her way out) I told you so, Johanne?

JOHANNE (Ambivalent: in love with Erik, feels loyalty toward Helene, but is at the same time irritated, confused and in distress) You did.

HELENE This love was poorly raised. I alienated you, clung onto my crazy dreams. My betrayal is obvious now.

ERIK ALVING You never brought with you a Sunday's weather! This is no home anymore.

YOUNG HELENE Before we got married this was just a house. Alone against your wanderlust I have fought to fill the void between these walls with love and prosperity.

ERIK ALVING Expensive facade-redecorating competition with your girlfriends has nothing to do with love.

YOUNG HELENE You asked me to create a beautiful home. It was to reflect our love!

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ERIK ALVING "Our love" Hah! Our love, a horror cabinet - pricy and vulgar.

Our love - a pale copy of your friends varnish thin fake lives ...

YOUNG HELENE I have at least given you a magnificent male offspring.

(Sarcastic) ERIK ALVING A son owes his father to mirror him! Osvald's birth certificate is a delusion written on way too white paper!

HELENE My heart made itself guilty of bitter insincerity. Your heart was young and loving. Our hearts grew hard and closed for each other.

ERIK ALVING (Begins to pack things in a briefcase and is clearly about to leave the house) You have your Secrets. I have mine. They bind us together.

This marriage is a witch's knot. I'll be at the office.

YOUNG HELENE Think about Osvald! He is the one who'll suffer for your "office routines"! (spiteful) From whom will he learn to become a decent man when you won't or can't?

ERIK ALVING You have turned him against me. Osvald does not like me, not in competition with you. He becomes a spineless sissy. Oh, how bland you are.

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HELENE No, no. This is too much.

YOUNG HELENE Hey, mind what you say! Osvald hears.

ERIK ALVING But it's the truth! Foolishness, Marriage and Secrets cause all the misfortunes. Good bye. (leaves the house) HELENE I threw the key to happiness away with pleasure. My guilt, my deeds destroyed everything and tied us together into a witch's knot.

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SCENE 3 ON STAGE: OSVALD, REGINE [Wordbank: Kiss me. Let's go. Paris; our paradise. Your life is my dream. Take me. Love me. My Muse.]

(Osvald has returned to the childhood home to attend his father's funeral, which will be in a few days. Regine is alone in the living room. Osvald comes in) OSVALD There you are, I've been looking for you.

(Quickly moves towards Regine, so close that we understand that things have already happened between them) REGINE (Seductive and flirty body language) Search and you will find. Come here and distract me! See me!

You fascinate me!

OSVALD I came here devoid of dreams and hope. The future lay like a black lid over a colorful past. But now...

REGINE Some men are given the whole world as a birth gift. You, on the other hand, built your world on the ashes of childhood loneliness. With the burden of talent and the passion of the artist, you stand tall among the great.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 27

OSVALD (Flattered, teasingly laughing) I get the feeling that you have feelings for me?

REGINE You fill an old emptiness in me, but please love me as if I was brand new. I beg you, take a chance on us. Call it whatever you want, this is what I want.

OSVALD Tomorrow threatens with its absence, so what have we got to lose? Your smile awakens my life from sleep. Your kisses give me a pulse and my body wakes up. I'm breathing you in. All the way in, until you fill my heart.

REGINE Everything you are ... To live your life has always been my dream. Together with you, the dream can be real.

OSVALD I have missed a Muse's inspiration and passion. Do you want...? My Muse? Do you want to sit for me?

REGINE For you I'll gladly undress.

(Heftily flirting) OSVALD Now?

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 28

REGINE You've seen this before, but a repetition does not hurt.

(Undresses in a sexy way, slowly) Your mother ...

(Still undressing, diverting at the same time) She clings to you. The game she plays keeps you small and weak.

OSVALD My mother is so lonely.

REGINE (confronting) Your mother dictates your life! She owns you and your mind.

She decides how you shall feel.

OSVALD (Mood changed, distracted, annoyed) Do we have to talk about mom right now?

REGINE (Quick switch back to flirt) Talk about Paris instead! Tell me about the life we are going to live there!

OSVALD Paris?

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 29

REGINE When we get to Paris, as you promised last time - then we will truly live, together in the arts. Your friends, the parties, our love, the art we'll make. Oh! (Dreaming happily) Take me into your world. Make me alive and free. In Paris we are going to work, paint, love, write, live. Paris, Paris, our Paradise.

OSVALD The two of us, in Paris? Yes, perhaps? Love, paint and live and forget.

REGINE Let's go now! Once your father is in the ground, nothing keeps us here. Your mother? Away with her octopus arms! She must be prevented from poisoning your mind! Let's leave this place.

Now! Let's go. Paris, our Paradise. Let's live in Paradise.

Paint and write, work and love. Let's go! Let's immerse ourselves in art in Paris.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 30 SCENE 4 ON STAGE: HELENE, UNGE HELENE, OSVALD AS A CHILD (Young Helene enters her son's room and sits on the bedside of her sleeping son (the child Osvald). The elder Helene is standing a bit away observing them).

YOUNG HELENE You and I, alone against the world. Daddy doesn't care. Other women tempt him more. But I shall always be with you.

HELENE My little son. Time went so fast. You left me too, Osvald...

You grew up and pulled away. Everybody leaves me.

YOUNG HELENE Without you I am nothing. You are mine! You belong to me, I belong to you. You are beautiful like your father! You are the only real man in my life. The only one who loves you is me. My body made you from my love. A child owes his mother to mirror her love.

(Lies down next to him in bed) My beautiful son! I love you. You are mine. I'm yours. And the two of us shall never keep secrets from each other.

HELENE I will not, absolutely not, do not want to remember.

YOUNG HELENE Come near me, Osvald. Your father has frozen my soul to pieces. Only you. Only you can make me warm again, can make me whole again.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 31

HELENE Now I understand what I have done.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 32

SCENE 5 ON STAGE: REGINE, ENGSTRAND, GABRIEL, HELENE, YOUNG HELENE, OSVALD, OSVALD AS A CHILD (POSS. JOHANNE OFF STAGE?) [WORD BANK: The truth. Never. A new man. My/your duty. Unfaithful.

Betrayal. Love. Hate. The Secret. I know. Forget it.

Temptation. Lust. Kiss me! Take me! Love me! The facade. Holy Matrimony. Oh God. Father. Mother. Torture. Cruelty. Victory.

What are you talking about? Conscience. Good bye.]

(Regine enters the living room with Engstrand trailing behind, they are in the middle of a conversation) REGINE Forget it, father! I'll never come with you! You, your... pied de mouton! You were always drunk and cruel to poor mom and to me. Fi donc!

ENGSTRAND I have become a new and better person. Give your old dad a chance! For my savings I shall buy a hotel. There you will live like a queen!

REGINE (Sarcastically) The same queen's life as my mother got?

(A knock on the door, Regine opens. Gabriel enters. Regine helps Gabriel with his jacket)

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 33

ENGSTRAND (Ambiguously) Of course, one finds Manders in this house.

GABRIEL Death has been lurking around these walls for a long time in hopes of picking the most beautiful.

ENGSTRAND Neither prophets, The Lord, the Devil or thousands of wise men possess the ultimate power over death.

(Grabs Regine) Tell her, Manders, that I've become a better person!

GABRIEL (slightly reserved) A daughter is normally obliged to take care of her aging father.

REGINE Join him? Never! I have big plans. Magnifique! Love is waiting for me. Bientôt, bientôt. (leaves the room, Engstrand and Gabriel are left alone.)

ENGSTRAND When one side of a triangle is removed, one is left with an open angle.

GABRIEL What are you talking about, Engstrand?

ENGSTRAND The most dangerous enemies are ourselves.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 34

GABRIEL I haven't done anything wrong! I am the one carrying other people's secrets hidden in my heart.

ENGSTRAND (Laughs) But I know something about you ... (looks cunning) - and Helene ... and Erik GABRIEL (Upset) One is truly lost who light-heartedly can watch people suffer.

ENGSTRAND At least I'm honest. What you see is what you get. Bye! (walks out. Gabriel is left alone, confused. Helene enters the living room.)

HELENE Gabriel! How nice that you've come.

GABRIEL It will never become a habit to bury old friends. Erik will be deeply missed.

(Osvald has entered the room while they were talking. Helene notices him. Child-Osvald sneaks in and hides behind Helene.

Young Helene comes in) YOUNG HELENE (walking around the room looking for child-Osvald) Osvald? Where are you? If you love mom, come out. Do you want mom to become sad again?

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 35

HELENE (rushes to embrace Osvald) Osvald, it's so good to have you home!

(The young Helene finds child-Osvald and embraces him.)

OSVALD (Child-Osvald and adult-Osvald shake off their mothers and shudder with exactly the same movements.)

Pastor Manders.

GABRIEL My condolences!

HELENE (& YOUNG HELENE "ghost singing") (addressing the pastor, beaming) Isn't he marvellous?

GABRIEL (to Osvald) At home with mother. It's a nice place to be. You left early into the world.

OSVALD I had to leave. Life became too cramped here. It seems it still is. (does a farewell gesture and leaves the room) HELENE (& YOUNG HELENE "ghost singing") He is right. It's cramped here. Filth, secrets and lies.

GABRIEL What do you mean, Helene?

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 36

HELENE It seems I must remind you about that time, when ...

GABRIEL That time when you came to me, fled your husband? Wanted us to be together?

HELENE (& YOUNG HELENE "ghost singing") We were together!

YOUNG HELENE (& HELENE "ghost singing") Gabriel! I do love you!

GABRIEL Only in all decency, Helene. You claimed that Erik was unfaithful, but infidelity is second nature to you.

HELENE (& YOUNG HELENE "ghost singing") I could never love Erik because I loved you!

GABRIEL Loved!? What right do we humans have to demand happiness?

HELENE (& YOUNG HELENE "ghost singing") Have you forgotten how we lay in each other's arms and promised each other the future? When the dawn came, you threw me out.

GABRIEL It never happened! I sent you right home to your husband.

YOUNG HELENE I can make accounts for every tear!

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 37

HELENE You're lying!

GABRIEL We have nothing more to say to each other.

(Indicates that he is about to leave) HELENE Forgive me. It's not that important anymore. Your friendship is more important.

GABRIEL You forced me to be strict! I thank the Lord that I managed to stop. God led me right. Erik lived with you in love and care all these years.

HELENE You know nothing! My duties! Hah! Your reputation! And the rumours, Gabriel! We have always been too concerned about the facade to live in truth.

GABRIEL I was very fond of you both.

HELENE You do understand that I know? You loved Erik, not me.

GABRIEL I... loved... Only as a friend of you both could I keep my connections with Erik. (painful admission)

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 38

HELENE Your beloved Erik became reckless and cruel. Malicious and heartless.

GABRIEL To you?

HELENE I became cruel as well. One does when one lives like that.

Afraid of being alone I accepted his licentious life until... one day I saw him and Johanne. But then I claimed power of the house! Our facade held. Nobody knew. Until now. Osvald should not need to know what kind of parents he had. And then I discovered the Secret...

GABRIEL (Very upset) Secret?

HELENE I discovered something that should have put him in jail. But I kept silent. That way, the Secret became mine too, because I didn't want to lose everything.

GABRIEL & HELENE But now it's over. Now he is dead.

(Doors open. The two couples Johanne and Erik and Osvald and Regine enter the stage and flirt, cuddle, dance) JOHANNE & REGINE (Laughing) You're crazy! Not here, let me go, Helene may see us.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 39

HELENE (tired) Ghosts. I see ghosts!

GABRIEL Regine and Osvald? I am shocked! Engstrand, who cared for her, took on the paternity. What a beautiful gesture!

Now she has to move to her father.

HELENE Engstrand? He has never been a father to her. A self-pitying, violent drunk. When Johanne became pregnant, Erik could not deny it. She invented a sad story. Then she married Engstrand.

They were both richly rewarded to do so! I have lied to Osvald all his life. So I will say to them: Marry if you want to.

What's important is that you are happy.

GABRIEL The Holy Marriage! They cannot marry!

HELENE I too have lived a lifetime of lies.

GABRIEL You loved Erik.

HELENE I did not know Erik! I should have done everything differently. Forget about you, hide you, get over you. Our marriage could have been beautiful and vibrant If only I ...

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 40

GABRIEL You did the right thing and stayed with him. When you came to me that night: "Here I am, take me, love me!" It was the biggest victory of my life! I won over myself.

HELENE You killed love and truth.

GABRIEL I know what is true. I have nothing to confess!

HELENE Let's forget the old days.

(They embrace each other) GABRIEL Then I say goodbye.

(Gabriel leaves the room, bumps into Engstrand, who has been outside and eavesdropping) ENGSTRAND Here one will meet both temptations and ill deeds with the same mind.

GABRIEL How is your conscience doing these days?

ENGSTRAND Hidden conscience is linked to distortion of the truth. It's in my power to judge the truth guilty. How does it feel - of love - to cry the honour of an evil man's name?

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 41

GABRIEL You ice cold pimp! A decayed person without morality.

(Gabriel leaves. Engstrand stays behind, smiles contently.

Johanne's voice is heard before she is visible) JOHANNE Nobody knows. Nobody knows what you did. No one will see with my eyes.

(Emerges from the shadows) ENGSTRAND (Obviously can't hear or see Johanne) Oh, how a day can smile to a prophet spreading doubt.

JOHANNE (Confronts Engstrand, walks in front of him and tries to force him to see her) You robbed me of everything, tore time apart. You destroyed the light, left the darkness turned on. You have disturbed the universe! Here on the border of life, what's dead is dancing between us. How can you stand here, untouched and smiling?

ENGSTRAND (Simply walks away from Johanne. Is in a good mood, satisfied with himself) I lean happily onto an infinite number of tomorrows, for progress is called forgetfulness. I can live without innocence, for the strongest man in time owns the world!

JOHANNE The wheels of justice never change course. I walk hand in hand with the demons In Vain and Too Late. Now I am no one, and no one deserves a meaningless life.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 42 SCENE 6 ON STAGE: HELENE, ERIK, YOUNG HELENE, JOHANNE [WORD BANK: He is dead! So incredibly sad! The best ones die first. Such a great man. The love of your life is dead! Poor you! The rock of your life has tumbled down. Death! Now you are alone] (Helene walks into the hallway and starts throwing Erik's clothes on the floor. She finds a bag and puts his clothes in it. Hysterically she clears away everything that reminds her of Erik. Young Helene, Erik and Johanne enter the stage.

Johanne clings to Erik when young Helene looks another way.)

HELENE So you left me for good, Erik. There is so much I would have said.

(Meanwhile, Erik picks his clothes out of the bag and puts them back, putting his things back in place).

ERIK Helene HELENE Erik! Can you forgive me? I could have loved you, if only ...

ERIK Helene? You are the love of my life! I love you.

YOUNG HELENE You love everyone else, not me.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 43

JOHANNE (Hurt, turned towards Erik) You said you loved me.

ERIK (Towards young Helene) I love only you. But you are cold and distant. There is no room for me in your proper life.

JOHANNE There's room for you in my life. (Eventually understands that she's not heard and disappears into the background) HELENE All these years we've tortured each other. Only now I understand that love was the cause.

YOUNG HELENE You require a wildness from me which I do not possess.

ERIK (grabs young Helene and fondles her) Helene! Stay with me. It is pleasure that nobles the minds!

YOUNG HELENE (twisting out of his grip) I do not play love! You've never loved anyone but yourself.

HELENE It takes two to create joy and happiness. If I had just dared to love you. Instead, I saved my love withered, dry and old for someone else! He would not even have me. So silly!

Bitterly! Erik! I guess I loved you nevertheless. Too late!

Too late.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 44

YOUNG HELENE You have your life. I have mine.

HELENE I transmit this strong desire through time and space: Can you forgive me?

ERIK I wait and ache, submerge my sadness in wine and strangers' love. I indulge in consoling madness. Days go by. I'm turning tides, killing pride for you. I gave you the earth, the starry sky and the sun! But it isn't enough. 'till the end of my days there'll be a you-shaped void in my heart.

YOUNG HELENE (snorts, rolls her eyes and leaves the room) ERIK (Stares desperately and lost after her, collapses on the floor crying) She will never love me!

HELENE (tries to hold him and comfort, but it is impossible to reach him) I love you now! My biggest sin was killing love. Now you have left me forever. I do not care about freedom! What should I do with it? I'm free, but lonely. Tonight I will scream as long as I can. (also collapses and cries)

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 45 SCENE 7 ON STAGE: HELENE, OSVALD, REGINE [WORD BANK: I love you. I hate you. The sun. A helping hand.

Ghosts. Living dead. The best ones die first. Such a great man. Now you are alone.]

HELENE Osvald? How are you, really, my son?

OSVALD I'm damn tired! Something in me has broken. I will never be able to work. Now I am a kind of living dead, a ghost. The power is gone! Violent pains! Like an iron ring! I become like paralysed and can't think. The seizures come and go.

HELENE Have you been examined by a doctor?

OSVALD They cannot do anything.

(Thoughtful pause) This constant rain. Day out and day in, year after year. Just fog and rain. (sudden change of mood) Regine (thoughtful) She is wonderful. She could be my salvation. Her light could compensate for my darkness. With her I could forget... (suddenly) I can't stay here! I can't stand it!

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 46

HELENE But you said OSVALD Anxiety lives here with you. It's so strong here.

HELENE Are you saying it's my fault that you have anxiety? (upset) OSVALD I don't know! This anxiety that can overturn even the strongest mind. I can't get away and no one can get in - here.

(Puts his hand on the heart, replenishes the glass once more and drinks) HELENE I sacrificed my life for you! My freedom, my love, my opportunities. For you.

(Pause) You shouldn't drink so much.

OSVALD Alcohol is the only thing that eases the agony. It relieves the pain. So does Regine. That amazing, unique woman! Here she is, waiting for me with open arms.

HELENE Osvald, no.

OSVALD We are adults and don't need your blessing. I don't give a damn about you.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 47

HELENE How can you be so angry with me?

OSVALD Not only at you, but at the anxiety and at my own anger.

Everything is impossible.

HELENE Regine? Can you fetch a bottle of champagne and three glasses?

REGINE (appears in the doorway) Three glasses?

HELENE And then we'll sit at the table all together.

(Helene strokes her son over her back) You have a fever, Osvald.

OSVALD It'll pass! (shakes off his mother's touch) HELENE You are sick. Maybe you should try to sleep a little?

OSVALD I never sleep, I just pretend to.

(Regine comes carrying a champagne bottle and glasses) HELENE Come and sit down. (pours the champagne)

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 48

OSVALD (In a weird mood) Cheers, Regine! When that day comes when I need help, I want it to be you.

REGINE I'll help you with whatever you want.

HELENE (Smiling) Cheers!

REGINE Cheers OSVALD (towards his mother) Why are you chuckling?

HELENE When Erik was at your age, he owned the joy of life. He was like a sunny Sunday! But I never gave him any pleasure. I was too concerned with you. We acted a happy marriage. I gave him a sad home. Your father OSVALD (interrupts) I never had a dad! Or a mother for that matter. The memories make me sick. What I remember makes me throw up.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 49

HELENE But, Osvald? We have always been able to talk about anything you and I? Do you hate me that much?

OSVALD I remember enough to hate you, but have forgotten enough to still miss a mother.

HELENE A mother's heart is to be blamed for everything.

OSVALD A mother's heart is to be survived! If there is a blame it's yours. You no longer exist, just the lies.

HELENE (Becomes hurt and frustrated, suddenly feels the need to punish) Regine should know.

REGINE Me? What should I know?

HELENE This is just as much your home as it is ours. You belong here the same way Osvald does.

REGINE What are you actually saying?

HELENE Engstrand is not your father.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 50

OSVALD (Shocked) Regine? Regine?! Dad?!

HELENE Now you both know.

REGINE (Bitterly) So my mother was a damn whore.

HELENE Your mother was a good person. She was thoughtless and young, but good.

REGINE I'm moving out tomorrow already.

OSVALD But you are supposed to be with me?

REGINE I had begun hoping that the two of us belonged together. It's impossible now. With this all hopes and dreams are lost. I am not going to waste my life away in this haunted house.

OSVALD Don't go! Nobody needs to know. We can get married anyway.

REGINE You are really sick! I'm too fond of my life to marry my own brother! Are you insane?

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 51

HELENE Take care of yourself. Promise me that! You will always have a home here with me.

REGINE You could have treated me better all these years, Helene.

After all, I was a better man's child!

OSVALD Don't go! Stay with me! Can I come with you?

REGINE I'd rather go to Engstrand's hotel than to stay here. A poor woman's got to make use of her advantages. I can always get champagne elsewhere. (leaves the room) OSVALD (to himself) Everything is destroyed now. Everything should burn, including me. If not, I will be staying here like a living dead in her womb, together in the sins of the parents.

The anxiety keeps me constant company.

HELENE But I love you!

OSVALD You're not allowed to use that word! You can't love anyone!

Not even yourself. You are the real ghost here.

HELENE You can't escape my love! Can you forgive me for all the wrong I have done to you?

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 52

OSVALD Is it tomorrow now?

HELENE The morning light is coming. And it doesn't rain anymore.

Today we'll see the sun. You'll soon be well again.

OSVALD (Icy, with satisfaction/hate) The doctor said that I have an inherited disease. I was infected in my mother's womb. The next seizure will be fatal.

HELENE How awful!

OSVALD This disgraceful disease will change me. I may need an infant's care 'till I die. I'm not afraid to die, but I dearly want to live!

HELENE Yes, Osvald, you shall live! I'll stay with you forever.

OSVALD There are no medicines. Apart from these... (picks up a small box from his shirt pocket) Morphine pills.

HELENE Osvald. Give me the box.

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 53

OSVALD I had thought that Regine would give me the helping hand. Now it will be your task.

HELENE You do not leave me again! If ever it becomes necessary I'll come with you! I cannot be alone! Without you I am nobody. You are my life. If you go I will join you.

OSVALD Mother, do you mean it seriously? Is that a promise? Do we have a pact?

HELENE Yes, my son. We have a pact.

(The morning light comes through the window) HELENE Better now, Osvald?

OSVALD Yes. The agony is gone.

HELENE My poor tortured boy. I'll take care of you as I did when you were a boy. I love you.

OSVALD Mother HELENE Yes

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 54

OSVALD Mother, give me the sun.

HELENE What are you saying?

OSVALD You're gonna give me the sun.

HELENE Osvald?

OSVALD The sun.

(Osvald slinks down on the floor in a seizure. Helene rushes to help and holds him) HELENE Look at me! Oswald!

OSVALD (Smiles, otherwise expressionless) Mother. You have to give me the sun now.

(Helene first sits quietly holding Osvald. Then she begins to look for the box of morphine pills. She finds it, takes a glass of wine from the table. She sits back and places Osvald in her lap. She feeds him with half the tablets in the box and pours wine into his mouth. He opens his mouth and swallows

Kjelsrud / GESPENSTER / 55

obediently. She pours the rest of the tablets into her hand and then swallows them) OSVALD The sun.

Curtain. <<<<>>>>