Review: The Master Builder
IT IS the old, old story... a distinguished older man, fearful that his creative powers have declined as younger men snap at his heels, meets a much younger girl who helps him revive his dream.
Ibsen was inspired to write The Master Builder after such a meeting with a youthful Viennese beauty in a park.
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The 1892 late masterpiece has Halvard Solness, a leading architect of his age, realising he is at the end of his career.
For this proud man, shackled in the chains of a loveless marriage, the reappearance in his life (a decade after their first meeting) of the beauteous Hilde Wangel proves an inspiration for him to design a last masterpiece.
But their relationship comes at a high price and Ibsen explores, in often devastating detail, the dark tragedy of betrayal, the consuming needs of sexual passion as well as the thorny crown of ambition.
The ever-excellent Stephen Dillane, in a remarkably powerful performance, gives us the unnerving picture of a man struggling with the shadows of his past and the fears of his future. It is as if his very life force and his creativity are being drained away.
Dillane exudes great strength on the stage, particularly when his character is daunted by the threat of those who overtake him.
At one point, talking about an architectural design, he snaps out the word “modern” as if it is rattling with fury in his throat.
His life is overshadowed by guilt, after he parcelled up the land his wife inherited when the family home burnt down.
But the whole atmosphere changes explosively at the appearance of Hilde Wangel.
And, in one of the most scintillating performances of the year, Gemma Arterton is a magnificent muse to the despairing Solness.
She presents us with a range of emotions, from simpering sweetness, serpentine sexiness, fury and wide-eyed devotion.
She’s also blessed with a delightfully mobile face and a bewitching smile which she uses so effectively in her most persuasive scenes with the amazed architect.
Anastasia Hille, as Solness’s emotional and guilt-stricken wife Aline, adds a tragic facet. She exudes a weary pathos and presents us with a picture of a woman strangling herself with what she assumed is duty.
Director Travis Preston keeps a firm hand on this turbulent drama. In all, an Ibsen to remember.
