Location update: This performance will now take place in the Theatre, rather than the Recital Hall as previously advertised.
Breach presents a script-in-hand reading of Laura Kieler’s Men of Honour, her bitingly satirical response to her life story being stolen by Henrik Ibsen for A Doll’s House. Men of Honour tells the story of a young woman captivated by a famous writer who appropriates people’s lives for his art and then discards them.
Although A Doll’s House is familiar to readers and audiences in translation around the world, Men of Honour is virtually unknown. Now we can hear the voices that Kieler created in her dramatic response to Ibsen’s appropriation of her life story – voices that are now speaking in English, thanks to Gaye Kynoch's translation of the play. What alchemical and archival tools are employed by translator and editor to transport a small yellowing book published in Oslo in 1890 into our modern world? How does the context of Kieler’s day resonate with the context of our day – and in another language? How do works of literature resonate across the centuries?
This is a remarkable opportunity to hear Kieler’s play in its entirety, which has been translated by Gaye Kynoch into English for the first time. An adapted excerpt of the play features in Breach’s production of Burning Down the House, which examines the relationship between Kieler and Ibsen.
Following the reading, join literary translator Gaye Kynoch and leading Ibsen scholars Kirsten Shepherd and Tzen Sam to dive deep into conversation about reclaiming Laura Kieler's voice and her journey as an artist and activist in her own right.
This event is free to Burning Down the House bookers, but tickets should be booked in advance.
You can also book here for Burning Down The House, 25 Sept - 10 Oct.
