Today most of us believe in Ghosts so we forget what a rough ride Ibsen’s play initially had. In the early 1880s it was brutally rejected not only by the theatres in Ibsen’s native Norway but by all the major European playhouses. Even more crucially for Ibsen, who depended heavily on the income from his play-texts, the published edition was a resounding flop: of the 10,000 copies printed, most remained unsold.
Now, of course, Ghosts is seen as a classic and, by a happy chance, its revival at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse will be followed in the West End by Thomas Ostermeier’s production of An Enemy of the People: the play written immediately after Ghosts in which Ibsen vented his fury at the stupidity of his fellow countrymen.
