The Master Builder review – false swagger and queasy infidelity propel Ibsen’s big-drop drama
David Edgar’s translation of Henrik Ibsen’s *The Master Builder* follows architect Halvard Solness as he faces professional rivals, midlife insecurity and the return of a young woman who says he once made her a promise. The Arcola production draws out the play’s psychological tensions and uneasy questions about power, memory and infidelity, though its review argues that the drama’s strange, static quality limits its emotional impact.
Greg Hicks plays Solness as outwardly confident but inwardly unsettled, while Louisa Binder gives Hilde a commanding presence. Sally George’s Aline is grieving the couple’s twin children and alert to her husband’s emotional entanglements; the account of his past kisses with Hilde, when she was 13, makes their present flirtation uncomfortable. The production compresses Ibsen’s three acts into two and runs at the Arcola Theatre in London until 21 November.
In short
- David Edgar’s translation centres Solness’s struggle to hold on to power.
- The production explores unsettling memories and emotional infidelity.
- The review finds the play’s ending intriguing but its drama static.
Explained simply
Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright whose late 19th-century plays often put private relationships under pressure. The Master Builder centres on Halvard Solness, a successful architect who fears that younger rivals will overtake him.
Solness’s wife, Aline, is grieving the loss of their twin children, while Hilde, a young woman from his past, returns saying he promised her a future. Their relationships raise questions about memory, ambition and the imbalance of power between an older man and a younger woman.
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