These two powerful and contrasting verse dramas by Ibsen made his reputation as a playwright. The fantastical adventures of the irrepressible Peer Gynt – poet, idler, procrastinator, seducer – draw on Norwegian folklore to conjure up mountains, kidnappings, shipwrecks and trolls in an exuberant examination of truth and the self; while Brand, an unsparing vision of an idealistic priest who lives by his steely faith, explores free will and sacrifice. This volume brings together the poet Geoffrey Hill’s acclaimed stage version of Brand with a new poetic rendering of Peer Gynt, published for the first time.

This Penguin edition includes an interview with Geoffrey Hill about recreating Ibsen in English, an introduction by Janet Garton and editorial materials by Tore Rem.

‘Our home has never been anything other than a play-house. I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Daddy’s doll-child’

These four plays established Ibsen as the leading figure in the theatre of his day, sending shockwaves throughout Europe and beyond. A Doll’s House scandalized audiences with its free-thinking heroine Nora. Ibsen’s even more radical follow-up, Ghosts, exposes family secrets and sexual double-dealing, while Pillars of the Community and An Enemy of the People both explore the hypocrisy and the dark tensions at the heart of society. This new translation, the first to be based on the latest critical edition of Ibsen’s works, offers the best version available in English.

A new translation by DEBORAH DAWKIN and ERIK SKUGGEVIK
With an Introduction by TORE REM
General Editor TORE REM