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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. The Wild Duck
Audiences should be warned that Ibsen wrote this play to suggest that revealing the whole truth is not always the best way to live. Where his An Enemy of the People makes a hero out of a principled scientist trying to warn his community of approaching disaster, here Gregers Werle (Alexander Hurt) believes that telling unpleasant truths to those around him will free them to live more fulfilling lives and can't understand why things don't go the way he thinks they should. Andrew Boyce's massive set places the audience in the home of Hjalmar Ekdal (Nick Westrate), which he shares with his wife Gina (Melanie Field), his 14-year-old daughter Hedvig (Maaike Laanstra-Corn), and his father (David Patrick Kelly, who provides many of the lighter moments). As far as Hjalmar knows, Gregers' father Håkon (Robert Stanton) has always been a good friend to the Ekdal family in difficult times; Gregers, however, knows the real story. He believes that only revealing the truth will allow his lifelong friend to find the beauty in giving up what another character calls "the life lie" and begin living authentically. Laanstra-Corn is the tragic heart of the play, a fragile young woman who becomes collateral damage as Gregers attempts to open the eyes of people who don't want to see what he wants to show them. (Sometimes Ibsen's symbolism is a little heavy-handed: the wild duck is just one of several animals the Ekdal family keeps in a large closet rather than giving them their freedom.) Westrate is moving as Hjalmar, who comes to realize that he also has been lying to himself, while Hurt demonstrates the frustration of a man who, as he believes, just wants to improve the lives of the people around him. In another puzzling artistic touch, actor Alexander Sovronsky steps out of character during scene changes to perform 19th-century Norwegian music on a variety of authentic stringed instruments. The music is moving but the presentation is defiantly anti-realistic. The Wild Duck runs through November 16, 2025, at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Klein Theatre, 450 Seventh St. NW, Washington DC. For tickets and information, please call 202-547-1122 or 877-487-8849 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org. Produced in partnership with Theatre for a New Audience Cast: |
