St. John's Eve (play)
St. John's Eve, (Danish-Norwegian: Sancthansnatten) is a play written by Henrik Ibsen and first performed in 1853.[1] The play is considered apocryphal, because it never entered Ibsen's collected works. It was poorly received at its premiere at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen in 1853.
Plot summary
The play takes place during a
The young ones wander away after tasting the liquor. Anne walks with Birk, Julian with Juliane. As the night wears on,
After this play, Anne recognizes Birk as her childhood friend, and Julian recognizes Juliane from a dancing school in the city. The day after, the "right" couples decide to engage, which disrupts Mrs. Berg's plans of ruling the farm through Birk. The flower Anne found has turned into a real key, and with this, her grandfather opens a box containing her father's will, long lost. This states her rightful inheritance when marrying, and Mrs. Berg is beaten in the end. Anne marries Birk, Julian marries Juliane and all are happy about the change in plans. The real winner is the
Reception and criticism
The comical figure of Julian Paulsen was at the time a satirical comment on the regular urban romantic, such as
Ibsen, through some of the protagonists, seems to think Julian is far from the truth of both folklore and rural life, and as the play goes on, we learn that he is unable to tolerate the farmers at all. The satire was clear, and the public reacted with scorn. They felt offended, and the play was not well received. Ibsen himself stated that the whole gang of critics thought like Julian and decided not to offend them again. Therefore, St. John's Eve was never printed in his "collected works", and not performed again until 1978, under the supervision of Ingeborg Refling Hagen. Since then, it has been played by youth theater groups and children alike, and only twice by an adult commercial theater.
Themes
The play takes into account variations of romantic nationalism in Norway. On the one side, represented by Julian, there is the naive and unrealistic idea of "nature" and "originality", or even "primitive life", seen from a safe urban setting. On the other hand, there is the more realistic view of the country and the Norwegian farm culture. The first view is presented as arrogant, the other as humble. Some of the themes are inspired by similar plays written by Henrik Wergeland and are used again fully in Peer Gynt.
The play relies on many sources, including
Further, Ibsen alludes to
References
- ^ Holtan, Orley I.. Mythic Patterns in Ibsen's Last Plays. United Kingdom, University of Minnesota Press, London: Oxford University Press, 1970. 189.