In Henrik Ibsen's masterpiece Little Eyolf, romantic infatuation and obsessive love directly and indirectly shape the young boy’s early life. Parental carelessness and negligence that leads – whether by accident or design – to the abuse and sometimes even the death of children is a familiar and timeless topic that horrifies anyone with a moral conscience whenever it is brought to light. Although the great Norwegian playwright’s partly autobiographical drama is rarely performed, it remains shockingly relevant in every country and era. Guilt, repression, doubts and hidden secrets ignite the conflicts between the characters of the play, which opens at the New Stage Nicos Charalambous in March.

For the renowned Swedish director Stefan Larsson, Little Eyolf is a deeply personal play. His identification with it is perhaps inevitable since he shares with its main character the devastating experience of losing a child. He has woven his own individual history into his adaptation of the play, directing a contemporary production that highlights the subtle nuances of the original, while remaining faithful to its essence and the author’s intentions. A deeply knowledgeable expert on Ibsen, Larsson has directed more than 50 plays from the entire range of the international repertoire, and now comes to Cyprus for the first time, ably assisted by a talented creative team.

Little Eyolf, which belongs to Ibsen’s mature period, is a summation of everything that preoccupied him over his career: love as an illusion and the cause of great suffering, the meaning of existence, the search for identity, and ethical issues – all of which often lead to human tragedy. It is a multifaceted family drama of poetic realism, with the playwright’s recurring theme of a triangular relationship at its centre. Unsurprisingly, the Protestant Ibsen also explores ideas such as duty, guilt, punishment and mercy.

The Plot

Alfred Allmers, an aspiring author, marries his wealthy landowner wife, Rita, in the expectation that she will provide him with the financial freedom he needs to devote himself to his writing. The couple have a son, Eyolf, together. But he is neglected by the possessive Rita, who demands that her husband focus all his attention on her. A moment of uncontrolled passion between the couple results in an accident that leaves the child disabled. Alfred’s half-sister, Asta, visits them frequently and takes care of little Eyolf. Secretly in love with Alfred, she is unable to confess her desire for him. At the urging of the jealous Rita, she accepts a proposal of marriage from the engineer Borghejm. Meanwhile, little Eyolf, abandoned by his parents, grows up alone with his grandmother (in Larsson's adaptation). One of her tales about a medieval rat-woman who charms rodents into the sea with her flute will lead to a tragic event that triggers the ultimate conflict between the main characters.

The Play

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) met great success with Little Eyolf (1894). In his later mature period of creativity, having returned to Norway after 27 years in Italy, he was already considered the great reformer of European drama. On the morning of its release, on 11 December 1894, readers queued up in the cold and fog outside the publishing house to buy the book, excerpts from which had already been published in a newspaper in Christiania (the old name for Oslo). Critics were already hailing it as a masterpiece. It was staged just a few weeks later – in early 1895 – at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, and immediately afterwards in Christiania, selling more tickets than all of Ibsen’s previous plays. Performances followed in other cities in Norway, and soon afterwards in Italy, Sweden, and Denmark.

Little Eyolf was the main inspiration for Ingmar Bergman’s film Through a Glass Darkly, while it is clearly referenced in Antichrist, by Lars von Trier.

The Director

A director, screenwriter and author whose career has been garlanded with awards, Stefan Larsson has directed around 50 productions, the majority of them for the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in Stockholm. Their most recent collaboration is his adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf, which premiered in January 2024, receiving a warm reception from audiences and critics alike. The same adaptation, with a new cast and directorial adjustments for Thoc’s Nicos Charalambous New Stage, will be seen by Cypriot audiences in the spring of 2025.

In his productions, Larsson often uses modern media in an innovative way, masterfully combining the art of theatre with that of the cinema. In his recent, award-winning A Streetcar Named Desire/Linje Lusta for Dramaten, he used a live on-stage camera, with simultaneous projection onto a screen. We will see elements of this technique in Little Eyolf.

His adaptation of the celebrated musical Lazarus, featuring songs by David Bowie, was performed to enthusiastic audiences and great critical acclaim in Bergen, Norway. His own theatrical works, as well as scripts for television and cinema, are currently in production. He also has an acting background, having appeared in a number of TV series and films, and has directed for television.

Credits

Translation: Margarita Melberg
Director, Adaptation: Stefan Larsson
Set design: Sven Haraldsson
Costume design: Lakis Genethlis
Visual advisor: Torben Lendorph
Associate director: Maya Kyriazi
Live filming/Camera operator: Nefeli Kentoni
Lighting design: Georgios Koukoumas

The cast (in alphabetical order): Antreas Koutsoftas, Marina Makri, Lenia Sorokou, Andreas Tselepos, Margarita Zachariou

The child Iosif Katsoulakis participates in the production.

Performances

Nicosia | Thoc Theatre New Stage “Nicos Charalambous”

Friday 28 March 2025, 20:00
Saturday 29 March 2025, 20:00
Sunday 30 March 2025, 17:00 & 20:00
Friday 4 April 2025, 20:00
Saturday 5 April 2025, 17:00 & 20:00
Sunday 6 April 2025, 17:00 & 20:00
Friday 11 April 2025, 20:00 (with English and Turkish surtitles)
Saturday 12 April 2025, 17:00 & 20:00 (evening performance with Greek surtitles)
Sunday 13 April 2025, 17:00 & 20:00
Wednesday 23 April 2025, 20:00
Thursday 24 April 2025, 20:00
Friday 25 April 2025, 20:00
Saturday 26 April 2025, 17:00 & 20:00
Sunday 27 April 2025, 17:00 & 20:00

Limassol | Rialto Theatre
Friday 2 May 2025, 20:30 (with English and Turkish surtitles)

The performance is recommended for audiences over 14 years old.