Gregers Werle has returned from the Hoidal works up north and unexpectedly turned up at his father’s house, a place of secrets and sins. Gregers accuses his father of scapegoating his former business partner, and then acting charitably only to cover up his misdeeds: Old Werle has set up his former partner’s son, Hialmar, with a photography studio, and introduced Hialmar to his now-wife, Gina. Hialmar and Gina have a 14-year-old daughter, Hedvig, a curious child with failing eyesight who tends to the rescued wild duck living in their house. Gregers is determined to right the wrongs of past generations, no matter the cost or who he hurts in the process--so deeply does he believe in the idealism of living without lies. What will he expose? About whom? And will he be able to restore the integrity he seeks, or will he succumb to his own self-righteous ego? Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck is an investigation into the psychology of what makes people happy and content, and the lengths to which the will go to preserve their life’s illusions.
The Wild Duck guide sections
