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Home , An Enemy of the People, Ghosts (play), Peer Gynt, Rosmersholm, The Master Builder, The Wild Duck

Master Builder

By Henrik Translated by David Edgar Directed by Andrei Belgrader Featuring John Turturro

Study Guide written by Nicole Kempskie

BAM PETER JAY SHARP BUILDING 30 LAFAYETTE AVE. BROOKLYN, NY 11217 WELCOME to the Student Guide for What is BAM? How does relate to The Master Builder, one of Norwegian my life? What are some of the themes in BAM is the largest and oldest performing playwright ’s most sig- The Master Builder? arts facility in Brooklyn, NY. Since its nificant plays. This production stars first performance in 1861, the Brooklyn At its core, The Master Builder exam- celebrated stage, film, and television Academy of Music (BAM) has grown into ines what happens when ambition goes actor John Tuturro, known for his break- a thriving urban arts center for global, unchecked—something we see on a daily out performance in Spike Lee’s Do the national, and New York-based perform- basis when we turn on the television. Right Thing. What follows in this guide ing arts and film. The facilities at BAM Whether it’s aspiring ladies trying to are answers to some of the questions include the Howard Gilman Opera House, win the heart of one bachelor, cutthroat you may have about your upcoming trip the BAM Harvey Theater, BAM Fisher, contestants vying for a chance to work to BAM, some historical background on and the BAM Rose Cinemas, a four- for Donald Trump, or athletes losing their the playwright, some ideas to think about screen movie . titles over steroid use, the drive to “win” when you see the production, and some and be the best is an ongoing theme fun and creative exercises that will help What is The Master Builder about? in contemporary society. The beauty of you appreciate the work you are going Written in 1892, The Master Builder live theater is that it provides us with to see even more. tells the story of Halvard Solness, a an opportunity to examine important middle-aged architect who has risen themes like this in the company of oth- Let’s start with the questions you may to the top of his field, but is overcome ers. Chances are if you are a human have… with guilt and doubt over the way he’s being living in the 21st century, you’ve achieved his success. When a mysteri- dealt with many of the issues the ous young woman appears at the Solness addresses. house and reignites his passion, drive, and vitality, Halvard Solness’s egoism What should I expect from the perfor- leads him to risk everything in pursuit mance? of his dreams. With its blend of realist and expressionist elements, psychologi- You will see…. cally complex characters, and resonant A performance by an award-win- themes, The Master Builder provides a ning stage, film, and television actor. compelling entry point into the work of a playwright considered by many to be the A production of a celebrated play father of modern . that is gripping, moving, and haunt- ing. A play that weaves elements of realist and expressionist drama.

You will experience…. A play that asks us to examine our society’s addiction to success. A play that forces us to look at what happens when ambition goes unchecked. A play by one of the finest dra- matic writers in history.

What’s inside this study guide? Turn the page and you’ll see!

Introduction2 Introduction3 THE PLAY

CHARACTERS Knut Brovik A former architect who now works as an assistant to Solness; his health is failing, and it deteriorates rapidly throughout the course of the play.

Ragnar Brovik The son of Knut who works as a draftsman to Solness; he has talent as an architect, but is afraid to stand up to Solness.

Kaja Fosli Ragnar’s fiancé and Solness’s bookkeeper; she has fallen deeply in love with Solness.

Dr. Herdal The family doctor and advisor.

Aline Solness Solness’s wife; she is mentally and emo- tionally distraught over the death of her two sons and the fire that destroyed her parents’ home.

Halvard Solness The master builder; a top architect who is driven, ambitious, and used to controlling those around him.

Hilde Wangel A mysterious young woman who comes to stay with Solness and his wife; she is vibrant and passionate and reignites Sol- ness’s drive for success and pleasure.

Background4 SYNOPSIS

ACT 1 2 The play begins in the workroom of Later that day, Aline and Solness discuss master builder Halvard Solness, where Aline’s pervasive depression. He assures his assistant, Knut Brovik, Knut’s son her that she will be happier when they Ragnar, and Ragnar’s fiancé Kaja are move into the new house that he has busy at work. It appears that Knut is very built to replace her parents’ home, which ill and most likely doesn’t have much has been lost in a fire. Aline refuses to longer to live. Knowing this, Knut asks believe that she will ever recover from the Solness to recognize his son’s abilities fire. When he is alone with Hilde, Solness and let him head a new project that he confides in her and explains that after the has been designing drafts for. Solness fire, Aline was so despondent that she refuses and is angered because Ragnar was unable to nurse their twin sons, and has secretly been drafting blueprints and they died as a result. He also admits that the prospective client finds them new and he knew there was a crack in the chim- modern. He confronts Kaja about this, ney and did nothing about it. While the accusing her of scheming along with Knut fire started in another part of the house, and Ragnar, and she denies any involve- he believes that he willed the fire, know- ment. Instead, she admits to Solness ing that he would have the opportunity to that she has fallen deeply in love with show his skills as an architect when re- him. Dr. Herdel, the family doctor, visits building the house. He blames himself for and informs Solness that Aline, Solness’s their son’s deaths and Aline’s condition. wife, suspects that Solness and Kaja are Hilde convinces Solness to climb to the having an affair. Solness denies it, admit- high tower of their new house and place ting only that Kaja has fallen in love with the celebratory wreath on top, despite his him. While the doctor and Solness are fear of heights. Aline hears of this and is speaking, Hilde, a vibrant young woman terrified for his safety. appears at the door. She explains that Aline invited her to visit after the two met ACT 3 vacationing the previous summer. The That evening, Aline shares her painful doctor excuses himself and Hilde reminds story with Hilde and expresses that she Solness that they met ten years before would like to be friends with her. Hilde when he built a church in her town. She feels immensely guilty and tells Solness describes an interaction they had at a cel- that she should leave, but as they con- ebratory dinner in which Solness kissed tinue to talk, her desire to have a king- her, called her his princess, and prom- dom and castle with a high tower gets the ised he would come back for her in ten better of her. Solness promises her that years and build her a kingdom. Solness he will give her just that, and that they is intrigued and invigorated by Hilde’s will be together forever, and he heads up presence. the scaffolding with the wreath. As Aline, Ragnar, Dr. Herdel, and a crowd of others watch a man rise above them with the wreath, they realize with terror that it is Solness. Hilde is ecstatic, and she waves Aline’s white shawl in the air with glee. Above them, Solness begins to waver on the scaffolding. He loses his footing and plummets to his death.

Background5 HENRIK IBSEN

He who wishes to understand me, Entry into the Theater A Shift in Style must know . The magnificent, but severe, natural environment sur- In 1849, Ibsen wrote his first play, Cata- In the late 1870s and early , Ibsen rounding people up there in the north, line, in , which would not be pro- started to shift the way he wrote. He the lonely, secluded life—the farms are duced until years later. The following year, began to integrate elements from the realist miles apart—forces them to be uncon- he moved to Christiania (now ) to at- movement that was occurring in literature cerned with others, to keep to their own. tend the university, but failed his entrance and art. His new approach to writing and That is why they become introspective exams. Nevertheless, he continued to write subject matter was centered around the and serious, they brood and doubt—and and completed his second play, The War- relevant social problems of the day, and he they often lose faith. At home every other rior’s Bow. began artfully crafting nuanced characters person is a philosopher! There, the long, with complex psychological profiles that dark, winters come with their thick fogs In 1851, he moved to to join the extended beyond the stage. This was a enveloping the houses—oh, how they newly formed National Theatre. As part significant departure from the “well-made” long for the sun!” of the company he was required to write melodramas that filled the stages up to this —Henrik Ibsen and stage a play each year and assist in a point. These new plays written by number of capacities (as a stage manager, Ibsen (A Doll’s House, , An Enemy costume designer, director, and business of the People, and ) marked CHALLENGE YOURSELF: manager) for the other shows produced by the beginning of modern drama and Think about the quote from Ibsen the theater. He worked with the company ushered in a new style of theater called above. How might the geography, for seven years and wrote plays in the realism. climate, culture and politics of our melodramatic style popular at the time. homeland influence the way we write While his plays were not well received By the time Ibsen wrote The Master and what we choose to write about? by audiences, this full immersion in all Builder in 1892, he had returned to aspects of the theater helped him fine-tune Norway and was considered to be one of his writing skills. the world’s leading dramatists. His last plays, among them The Master Builder, The Early Years In 1857, Ibsen became the artistic director integrated elements of expressionism. After of Christiana’s Norwegian Theater. Soon suffering from a series of strokes, Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, after, he met his wife Suzannah Thoresen died on May 23, 1906, in Oslo, Norway. 1828, in Skien, Norway. His father, Knud, and they married. They had a son, Sigurd, was a wealthy merchant who provided born in 1859. The Norwegian Theater Verse Plays a comfortable life for Ibsen, his mother went bankrupt in 1862, and in 1864, (1866) Marichen, and his sister. In 1834, Knud’s suffering from emotional and mental stress, (1867) business failed and he lost his store. The Ibsen left Norway on a travel grant to family was thrust into poverty and Ibsen . He stayed abroad for the next 27 was eventually forced to leave school at years and would write many of his most Prose Plays the age fifteen and take a job as a phar- celebrated works far from his homeland. macist’s assistant. During this time, Ibsen A Doll’s House (1871) immersed himself in literature and the arts, (1877) drawing, reading, and writing to es- Ghosts (1881) cape the humiliation his family suffered be- (1882) cause of their financial debt. The wounds The Wild Duck (1884) left from this experience would emerge in (1886) many of his plays, such as A Doll’s House (1888) and . (1891) The Master Builder (1892) In 1846, Ibsen became involved with a Little Eyolf (1894) servant ten years older than himself and John Gabriel Borkman (1896) fathered a child with her. While they did (1899) not marry, Ibsen supported the child for fourteen years, and the experience of fathering an illegitimate child would also surface in many of his plays later in life.

Background6 BEHIND THE SCENES ACTIVITIES

PART I: GETTING READY and why you think this play will matter to What you will need: A copy of the play, audiences today. materials for notetaking, the internet for 3. Costume Designer: Create a page of doing research sketches and notes detailing specific cos- How to begin: First, you will need to cre- tume ideas for at least three of the main ate a collaborative team by finding three characters. Use the internet to research classmates to work with. Once you’ve fashion in the late 1800s. formed your team, review the following four roles below: 4. Scenic Designer: Create a page of sketches and notes detailing ideas for the 1. The Actor: The person responsible for furniture, props, and scenic pieces in the bringing the playwright’s character to life play. Use the internet to research design onstage during each performance. styles in the late 1800s. 2. The Director: The person who leads PART III: THE PRODUCTION MEETING the creative team and works directly with After the research segment of this activity the actors. The director decides and has been completed, return to your group executes the staging, the casting, and for a PRODUCTION MEETING. Each works closely with the full creative team, collaborator has 5 minutes to share their overseeing the collaborative process and research findings and creative ideas with ensuring that the story and its themes are the group and address any questions the being fully realized through the many dif- other collaborators have. Your team must ferent artistic components. then work together to come up with a co- hesive approach to the play that integrates 3. The Costume Designer: The person your research findings, and incorporates responsible for envisioning and creating any new ideas that have come up in the the look of each character by designing meeting. clothing and accessories that the actors will wear in performance. PART IV: THE FIRST REHEARSAL 4. The Scenic Designer: The person re- Present a brief class presentation that sponsible for envisioning and creating the provides an overview of your approach to physical surroundings and visual aspects the play, as if it were the first rehearsal for of a production—the scenery, furniture, The Master Builder. props and other visual elements that cre- ate the environment of the play. PART V: AT THE PERFORMANCE 1. Actor: Notice how the actor playing your character uses their body, voice, and PART II: RESEARCH emotions to bring the character to life. Read the play in its entirety and then have 2. Director: Notice how the director chose each person in your group choose one of to stage the climactic ending of the play. the roles above. According to your role, 3. Costume Designer: Notice how the complete the following task: costumes help to delineate class, income, status, and how they express the person- 1. The Actor: Choose a character from ality and mood of the characters. The Master Builder and compile a page of research notes about your character. 4. Scenic Designer: Notice if and how the Your notes should cover: your character’s set designer blended both the expression- personality traits, their significant relation- ist and realist elements in the design. ships in the play, their worldview, and what they are like at the beginning of the play and how they change by the end. Also include some ideas about how your character walks, talks, and expresses his or herself physically. 2. The Director: Compile a page of research notes that examine: what you believe the meaning or message of the play to be, how you visualize the physical aspects of the play (set, costumes, actors), Background7 The mission of BAM Education & Humanities is to BAMfamily programming widens the lens of artistic Leadership support for BAM Education programs ignite imagination and ideas. Through programs discovery, offering young people and families is provided by Cheryl & Joe Della Rosa, The that enrich the audience experience, spark conver- smart, stimulating, and globally diverse dance, Irene Diamond Fund, The Leona M. and Harry B. sation, and generate creative engagement, we turn theater, storytelling, film, and music. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and The Rita and Alex the light on for curious minds. Hillman Foundation. BAM Humanities is a forum for adventurous ideas, BAM Education connects learning with creativity, providing context for the cultural experience at engaging imagination by encouraging self-expres- BAM and beyond. Our artist talks, master classes, sion through in- and after-school arts education lecture and discussion series, and innovative liter- programming, workshops for students and teach- ary programs facilitate engagement and discovery. ers, school-time performances, and comprehensive Foundation. school-break arts programs. Master

tion; The Simon & Eve Colin Foundation; Ford Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible Foundation; Lemberg Foundation; The New York through funding from: Spring 2013 Theater Sponsor Community Trust; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; The Rockefeller Foundation Cultural In- Major support for BAM Education programs novation Fund; The Skirball Foundation; and Seth provided by: Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation

Education programs at BAM are supported by: BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations Barclays Nets Community Alliance; Barker Welfare of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol, Foundation; Tiger Baron Foundation; BNY Mellon; Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator The Bay and Paul Foundations; Constans Culver Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader. The Builder Foundation; Charles Hayden Foundation; Jaharis BAM facilities are owned by the City of New York Expansion of BAM’s Community and Education Family Foundation; Emily Davie and Joseph S. and benefit from public funds provided through Programs made possible by the support of the SHS Kornfeld Foundation; David and Susan Marcinek; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Foundation. Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation; National with support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Grid; PennPAT: a program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; the Leadership support for BAM Education programs Foundation; Tony Randall Theatrical Fund; The Je- New York City Council including Council Speaker is provided by Cheryl & Joe Della Rosa, The rome Robbins Foundation, Inc.; May and Samuel Christine C. Quinn, Finance Committee Chair Do- Irene Diamond Fund, The Leona M. and Harry B. Rudin Family Foundation; Rush Philanthropic Arts menic M. Recchia, Jr., Cultural Affairs Committee Helmsley Charitable Trust, and The Rita and Alex Foundation; Sills Family Foundation; Surdna Foun- Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation Hillman Foundation. dation; Michael Tuch Foundation; Turrell Fund; of the Council, and Councilwoman Letitia James; Joseph LeRoy and Ann C. Warner Fund. and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz Leadership support for school-time performances, Education programs at BAM are endowed by: pre-show preparation workshops and educational Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund film screenings is provided by The Simon and Eva for Community, Educational, & Public Affairs Colin Foundation and Lemberg Foundation. Programs; Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin; William Randolph Hearst Endowment for Education and Development of new education and community Humanities Programs; Irene Diamond Fund; and initiatives in the BAM Fisher supported by The The Robert and Joan Catell Fund for Education Achelis Foundation; Altman Foundation; Booth Programs. Ferris Foundation; Brooklyn Community Founda-

Department of Education and Humanities Staff: Study Guide Writer: Nicole Kempskie is a playwright, lyricist and Images Courtesy of Compagnia TPO Stephanie Hughley: VP Education & Humanities theatre and media educator. She currently Suzanne Youngerman, Ph.D.: Director of manages the School & Family Programs at the Copyright © 2013 by Brooklyn Academy of Music Education & Family Programs Paley Center for Media, is a teaching artist for All rights reserved. No part of this book may be John P. Tighe, DMA: Assistant Director BAM, a lead facilitator for the Broadway Teacher’s reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any Violaine Huisman: Humanities Director Lab, and is an Adjunct professor in CCNY’s means, electronic or mechanical, including photog- John S. Foster, Ph.D.: Education Manager Education Theatre program. She has worked as a raphy, recording, or by any information storage and Gwendolyn Kelso: Program Manager consultant and teaching artist for NYC DOE, Arts retrieval system, without permission in writing from Eveline Chang: Program Manager Connection, TADA, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Step- the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Shana Parker: Event Manager Up Drama, the McCarter Theatre, North Shore Jennifer Leeson: Administrative Coordinator Music Theatre, Music Theatre International, Tams- Nathan Gelgud: Box Office Manager/Program Witmark, Disney, TheatreworksUSA, Broadway Associate Classroom, and is the co-founder of Brooklyn Tamar McKay: Administrative Assistant Children’s Theatre. Her most recent full-length Molly Silberberg: Humanities Assistant musical, Helen on 86th St., premiered Off- Rebekah Gordon: Administrative Assistant Broadway in the spring of 2010. She holds an MA Hannah Max: Humanities Intern in Theatre and Sociology from the Gallatin School Lulu Earle: Education Intern at NYU, was a contributing writer and professional development leader for the DOE’s Moving Image Blueprint and served as a juror for the children’s Creditsdivision of the International Emmy Awards.