The Sentinel 28/3/96 John Fox

New Vic's haunting production of an Ibsen classic

If I told you that the play at the New Victoria theatre is concerned with such topics as illegitimacy, sexually transmitted diseases, unmarried couples living together and euthanasia, you could be forgiven for thinking it is a piece written for the nineties.

So it was, but these were the 1890's and the play is Ibsen's timeless classic Ghosts.
The first night was honoured with the presence of Michael Meyer, the famous translator of the Norwegian dramatist's plays into English, and he must have been pleased with Peter Cheeseman's production.

Sue Johnston (Mrs Alving) proves how liberating the stage can be for an actress used to playing for the small screen. Though under-projecting she gives a pasionate performance underlined by her frequent pacing like a caged animal.
The dialogues with her son, the totally trapped Oswald- a fine study by Nigel Richards- are especially poignant.

The part of Pastor Manders has become transparently naive with the passage of time but, thankfully, Michael Cadman resists the temptation to send up the role.Meanwhile, Steven Granville excels himself as the wily Engstrand.As the pert maid Regina, Ysobel Gonzales completes a cast that prove, despite being a hundred year old, Ghosts has lost none of its dramatic power.

Uttoxeter Echo 3/4/96

Ghosts at the New Vic.

Ibsen's powerful drama Ghosts opened at the New Victoria Theatre in Newcastle last week.

The press condemned the London premier production of Ghosts in 1891 as " garbage and offal" and that was one of the more polite reviews.

Dealing as it does with incest, free love, syphilis and a wife's right to leave herhusband, one can well imagine the Victorian reaction.

Sue Johnston gives a powerfully moving performance as the tormented Mrs Alving, as all the skeletns are prised from her cupboard and she fears the past is about to repeat itself.

Michael Cadman plays the sanctimonious Pastor Manders in a beautifully controlled performance.

Nigel Richards as Oswald Alving, the unfortunate son who "inherits the sins of the father" brings great pathos to the play's shocking denoument.

Peter Cheeseman's sharp edged direction skillfully builds the tension in this dramatic production.

Country Life April Issue

...The most effective scenes are between Mrs Alving and Oswald: Sue Johnston is powerful as a loving mother, less convincing as a strong, independant-minded woman, and Nigel Richards gives an excellent performance of great physical poise...