I’m going to go a little smug with this one because it’s rare that I manage to write about things in such a timely fashion that anyone might actually be able to see it after I’ve written about it. BUT this play is on for another week and I see there are a few tickets left for later this week so please, if you get a chance, do go.

I love the Donmar Warehouse as it’s such a beautiful, intimate little venue and I’m lucky enough to have received membership as a birthday present from friends this year, so I see most of their productions. When my friends R and J started talking about this Ibsen play, I was envisaging something set in the frozen wastelands of Norway. But actually the setting of this production has been transferred to a Caribbean island and it’s absolutely beautiful with a rocky pool on the stage itself which is used to good theatrical effect.

It’s a quick production; 1hr45min straight through with no interval. Regular readers will know that generally that’s the kind of thing I like and it is, but on this occasion I would actually have liked it to be just a tad longer to flesh out the characters more; while Dr Wangel and his wife Ellida (‘The Lady from the Sea’) were well drawn, the doctor’s two daughters, particularly Bollette, could have done with a little more development. She had a lot of promise but it wasn’t entirely there for me. However, all the cast were simply superb.

Overall: beautiful modernised production of Ibsen on a stunning set in a great little theatre; well worth a couple of hours of your time.