When Ibsen’s Ghosts premiered in London in 1891, it was lambasted by critics and denounced by the London Daily Telegraph as, “An open drain…a dirty act done publicly…Absolutely loathsome and fetid…”
Yet as we speak, Ibsen’s work is enjoying a renaissance of relevance within the cultural conditions of Southern Asia. The plays explore issues of gender, corruption, hypocrisy, the economic suffering of women and social depravity. Think child-prostitution, organ trafficking and the sale of men, women and children into forced labour or sex industries. Ibsen’s plays speak loudly and clearly to exploitation and as third-world populations are plagued by such problems- his plays are having an impact.
