Ghosts @ The Tron, 17 Oct

If you're looking for a faithful adaptation of Ibsen’s famously scandalous play, prepare to be very disappointed. However, if you have opened your mind to a re-written piece based only very loosely on the original, yet exploring taboo contemporary issues, prepare to be thoroughly shocked.

Megan Barker transports the Scandinavian play to the Scottish Highlands, and the stark set feels chilly just to look at. The 19th century tale of affairs, sexually transmitted disease and euthanasia is transformed entirely into revelations of child abuse committed by those in positions of power, and how they tear apart the lives of the family involved.

Ibsen’s original needs updating to feel as horrific for a modern audience as it would at the time. These new revelations almost make you feel sick, and for that, writer Megan Barker should be given credit.

However, the play swings between believable and very unconvincing – at times it is truly poignant, at others simply sensationalist. The language is sometimes poetic, though never as beautiful or haunting as Ibsen intended. The play feels rather like an explosion, which has both merits and flaws. With such a fast pace, there is no time to really digest anything. Although the cast are good, the characters from the original are stretched so far that they become sketches and so their relationships with each other never feel quite as convincing as intended.

Megan Barker has a very strong idea that never quite hits the nail on the head as an Ibsen adaptation. However, for all its limitations as an adaptation, this is still a fast-paced and thrilling night at the theatre.  

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Ghosts, Tron Theatre, run ended, 7:45pm