Note: There will be spoilers for both The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen and My Master Builder by Lila Raicek in this blog post.
It is with great sadness that I write this blog post. I had been so excited to watch My Master Builder by Lila Raicek, I had greatly enjoyed the original play by Henrik Ibsen, The Master Builder, and the chance to see Ewan McGreggor, Obi-Wan Kenobi himself act in person sounded like a dream. Unfortunately, what I got was a production that didn’t incorporate my favorite parts of the original, and flopped harder than the main character did at the end.
Firstly, let’s talk about what I did enjoy. The set, lighting, and costumes were fantastic. Great amounts of detail were put into each one, bringing a feeling of realism that unfortunately contrasted with the rest of the play. It is truly a shame that all of this effort was wasted on this play.
That is all of the good that I have to say about this. There is so much about the play I could complain about, from the underwhelming acting to the uncomfortable shock value sexualization that added little actual substance to the show. However, most of the issues seem to stem from one main problem: the script.
There seems to have been an effort by Raicek to adapt Ibsen’s work in a way that puts a greater focus on the female characters and bring light to the real issue that is women being taken advantage of by men in power. However, in the process, much less focus is put on Henry, who is known as Halvard in the original. In Ibsen’s work Halvard’s delusional and narcissistic personality is evident as he constantly manipulates all of those around him. However, while characters may speak of Henry like he is Halvard, he is never actually shown doing anything to earn those descriptions. In fact, that is a major problem with My Master Builder, much of the play takes a “tell, don’t show” approach, with characters talking at length about past events and their ideas towards each other, but not actually doing much.
Back to Henry though, because he is a much more passive character, the play loses one of its major driving forces. Instead, the play is mainly moved forward by his wife, who does most of the action. However, the shift to a much more revenge motivated narrative doesn’t work as well, since Henry, the one who she is taking vengeance against, is a much weaker, often pathetic, character. While yes, he isn’t a great guy, he is nowhere near as intriguing of a character as the original, so you care much less about his fate, and the play as a whole. In fact, at the very end, when he falls to his death, the main audience reaction that stood out to me was laughter, which I doubt was the goal. I myself experienced an overwhelming feeling of indifference, as well as gratitude that the play was almost over, which is the last thing I want to be feeling after seeing a show.
At its core My Master Builder is a fundamentally flawed adaptation. It throws away almost everything that makes the original compelling and doesn’t do an adequate job filling in the remains. It’s almost miraculous that they were able to fumble the great source material and all-star cast. I can’t in good conscience recommend this show to anyone, especially when there are so many other amazing productions that seemingly had much less initially going for them. Anyways, this has been the next installment of my travel blogs, goodnight, morning, or afternoon, and I hope you’ll read the next one.
Theatre in London U of A 