Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf has never been popular and has remained the least performed of his major works. It had its English premiere in 1896 when even William Archer, Ibsen’s champion, translator and director, thought “the soul-searching might be too terrible for human endurance in the theatre.”
Alfred Allmers (Jolyon Coy), suffering from writer’s block, intends to give up writing to devote himself entirely to his 9-year-old crippled son and seek his fulfillment there. His wife, Rita (Lydia Leonard), makes it clear that she is not going to go on sharing him with their son. Allmers loves his sister (Eve Ponsonby) far more than he loves his wife.
When Eyolf drowns, the marriage is rocked even more. But the truth is that they never loved Eyolf; and now that he is dead, all they have left is guilt and remorse. Can they make the marriage work? The tension is maintained in Richard Eyre’s well-acted production.