Corpses in the Cargo (Ghosts re-visioned)

Theatre students in English and Cultural Studies at UWA present a re-working of Henrik Ibsen’s play Ghosts with Corpses in the Cargo (Ghosts Re-visioned). As Ibsen wrote to his publisher in relation to the ‘ghosts’ of his play, “we sail with a corpse in the cargo”. This production reworks elements of Ibsen’s play to imagine different rationales, towards different conclusions. Ibsen’s five principal characters are complemented by a chorus of eight, who interject, comment, attempt to persuade, and perform scenarios both recalled and imagined by the principal characters. They also supply the various ‘ghosts’ of those figures who do not appear in Ibsen’s play – Captain Alving, Johanna Engstrand, and others. And, if spectators do not know Ibsen’s Ghosts, it doesn’t matter. This play is constructed so that no prior knowledge of Ghosts is required. It performs its own dark secrets, illicit lusts, and fatal denouements. Contact Steve Chinna on schinna@cyllene.uwa.edu.au if you require any further details.