The Wild Duck

Summary

1952 BBC live studio production of Ibsen’s drama The Wild Duck, in Max Faber’s adaptation.

Theatre play

The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) [more information]

Play synopsis

The Wild Duck is a tragedy with comic episodes which is considered by many critics to be Ibsen’s masterpiece. It recounts the fatal effects of what Ibsen termed the ‘life lie’, the delusions man requires to flee a reality too difficult to bear. The action takes place over three days in a Norwegian town in the 1880s. Act I takes place in the home of Hkon Werle, a wealthy businessman and the rest of the play takes place in the apartment of photographer Hjalmar Ekdal and his family.

Production history

First published in 1884 and first performed in Bergen in 1885.

Date of transmission

Sunday 2 March 1952

Time

8.301-10.20pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Tatiana Lieven

Producer

Ian Atkins

Adapted for the Stage by

Max Faber

Playwright

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Sets / Settings

James Bould

Cast

Marcia Ashton	Hedvig
Freda Bamford	Gina Ekdal
Claude Bonser	Graaberg
Nigel Clarke [or Clark]	Haakon Werle
Denis Cowles	Councillor Balle
Howell Davies	Guest
A. G. Dennett	Guest
Margaret Diamond	Mrs Bertha Sorby
Walter Fitzgerald	Dr Relling
Alan Gordon	Pettersen
Marius Goring	Hjalmar Ekdal
Geoffrey Keen	Gregers Werle
Fletcher Lightfoot	Guest
Herbert Lomas	Old Ekdal
Charles Mander	Molvik
Kendrew Milson	Guest
Peter Morny	Guest
Victor Platt	Councillor Kroll
Barry Steele	Jensen
Frank Tickle	Councillor Kaspersen

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 7.30pm on Thursday 6 March 1952.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

Norwegian drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 29 February 1952 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and photograph, p. 47; article by Lionel Hale, ‘Ibsen’s Fowling Piece of a Play’, p. 46