Ibsen Re-written
A review of the Oberon Books paperback (April 22, 2019) adaptation by [a:Duncan Macmillan|208779|Duncan Macmillan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] of the original Dano-Norwegian playscript (1886).

[Rebecca] West: There's one last 'riddle'. Not that it matters now, but I wish I knew the answer. Are you following me? Or am I following you? - excerpt from Act 4, Duncan Macmillan adaptation (2019).

Rebekka: Ja, sig mig det først. Er det dig, som følger mig? Eller er det mig, som følger dig?
Rosmer: Det grunder vi aldrig ud tilbunds.
Rebekka:Jeg vilde dog gerne vide det. - related passage from Act 4, Danish original.

Rebecca: Yes, but first tell me this—is it you that go with me, or I that go with you?
Rosmer: We shall never get to the bottom of that.
Rebecca: Yet I should dearly like to know. - related passage from Act 4, R. Farquharson Sharp translation (1911 Public Domain).

I wanted to read Ibsen's Rosmersholm before I see it at Toronto's Crow's Theatre later in September 2024. When I got the Oberon Books playscript I was surprised to read that no translator was credited. Duncan Macmillan has rewritten Ibsen, quite faithfully keeping to his scenes and themes, but in totally revised language. I hope the above example is enough to convey this.

I read the Macmillan in parallel with a public domain translation from 1911 by R. Farquharson Sharp which you can also read on Project Gutenberg here. The versions match scene for scene, but the text varies considerably between the two, although the purpose of each discussion remains the same. There is a rather surprising coup de théâtre at the conclusion of the Macmillan, but I won't spoil that here (I somehow doubt that Crow's will pull that off, although I've seen quite spectacular things at Crow's over the years