The Master Builder
Solness, the master builder, is moving around a glass structure: fragile and transparent, but also sharp and dangerous
Directed by Runar Hodne
Hallvard Solness is a celebrated architect, facing the completion of his life’s greatest work. Solness is the man who started out with nothing, and who is now considered one of the country’s greatest architects. But his success has come at a price: the fire that killed his sons, also killed his love for his wife Aline, while one of his employees, Ragnar Brovik, is about to make the leap, from highly competent colleague to competitor. The young girl Hilda Wangel, suddenly emerging from the past, quickly evolves from a welcome distraction to a dangerous kindred spirit.
Twice in his life, Solness has stood face to face with God. The Master Builder tells the story of the life he has lived between these two confrontations – a life filled with paradoxes: a “self-made man” who married into money, a master architect who fears competition, a man who is afraid of heights, yet creates buildings that reach for the sky. The result is an intense struggle in which the lust for life fights the death drive, where guilt fights cynicism.
Runar Hodne is a resident director at the National Theatre, and has previously directed The Lady from the Sea for the 2004 Ibsen Festival. In 2006, he is responsible for the F6 series, featuring Ibsen readings and discussions in the Audience Restaurant. For The Master Builder, he is collaborating with the scenographer Magne Wiggen, one of our most acclaimed younger architects, particularly well known for his installation Kiss the frog! in Tullinløkka. Together, they let Solness move around a glass structure: fragile and transparent, but also sharp and dangerous.