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com), purchased on 07/01/2024

 Ghosts
Henrik Ibsen
Adapted by Joe Hill-Gibbins

Literal translation by Charlotte Barslund

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 METHUEN DRAMA
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland
BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Methuen
Drama logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2023
Copyright © Joe H
­ ill-­Gibbins, 2023
Joe ­Hill-­Gibbins has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work.
Cover design by Rebecca Heselton
Cover image © Chuttersnap/ Unsplash
Typography by Typeland
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility
for, any t­ hird-­party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses
given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and
publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites
have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
No rights in incidental music or songs contained in the work are hereby
granted and performance rights for any performance/presentation
whatsoever must be obtained from the respective copyright owners.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application
for performance etc. should be made before rehearsals to United Agents,
12–26 Lexington Street, London, W1F 0LE. No performance
may be given unless a licence has been obtained.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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ISBN: PB: 978-1-3504-5735-5
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eBook: 978-1-3504-5737-9
Series: Modern Plays
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 Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Joe H
­ ill-­Gibbins, had its
world premiere at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse,
Shakespeare’s Globe, on 10 November 2023 with the
following cast and creative team:
Jakob Engstrand Greg Hicks
Father Manders Paul Hilton
Helene Alving Hattie Morahan
Regine Engstrand Sarah Slimani
Osvald Alving Stuart Thompson
Adapter Joe ­Hill-­Gibbins
Artistic Director Michelle Terry
Associate Director Lucy Wray
Director Joe ­Hill-­Gibbins
Costume and Set Designer Rosanna Vize
Costume Supervisor Megan Rarity
Globe Associate, Movement Glynn MacDonald
Head of Voice Tess Dignan
Intimacy Director Haruka Kuroda
Literal Translation Charlotte Barslund
Script Editor Lucy Wray

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 Special thanks to Lucy Wray.

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 Ghosts
a domestic drama in three acts

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 Characters
Regine Engstrand
Jakob Engstrand
Father Manders
Helene Alving
Osvald Alving
The action runs continuously, with no jumps in time.

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 I
Scene One
Regine strikes a match. She is lighting candles. Engstrand
appears.
Regine No, sorry. You can’t come in.
Engstrand advances. He has a limp.
Regine I said: you can’t come in. You’re soaking wet.
Engstrand God has opened up the heavens.
Regine More like the devil’s opened hell. What do you
want?
Engstrand I just need a minute. I’ve come to see you.
Regine Shh – shh. Stop banging around with that leg. Mr
Alving’s asleep upstairs.
Engstrand In bed? It’s midday?
Regine (continuing lighting the candles) That’s none of your
business.
Engstrand The drink got a hold of me last night. Possessed
me like a devil.
Regine (in a French accent) Quelle surprise.
Engstrand The flesh is weak.
Regine The flesh is still drunk.
Engstrand And yet, I was up at five thirty this morning
for work.
Regine And I was up at six. You win. Is that all you came to
tell me?
Engstrand I just need one minute with you.

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 4 Ghosts

Regine I don’t have time to rendez vous.

Engstrand To what?
Regine I don’t want people seeing you here.
Engstrand I have to talk to you. Today I finish on the
children’s home. Tonight I’m getting the ferry. I’ll be gone.
Regine Bon voyage.
Engstrand I have to leave before the ceremony tomorrow.
They’ll be toasting it, see – with champagne. I can’t have
anything to do with that. The temptation would be too strong.
Regine makes a dismissive noise.
Engstrand ’Cause they’ll be coming up from the town for
it. Proper people . . . Father Manders.
Regine He’s coming here today.
Engstrand Exactly. And I can’t be getting drunk in front
of him.
Regine Why?
Engstrand He’s a man of God.
Regine No, what do you want from him? What are you
scheming?
Engstrand Scheming? About the Father? That man’s given
me so much already: I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Regine Your minute’s up. What do you want?
Engstrand I’m going back to town today. And I want you
to come with me.
Pause.
I want you to come with me.
Come live with me.
Regine I live here. Mrs Alving’s brought me up like family.

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 I, Scene One 5

Engstrand I’m your family.

Regine Are you? That’s not what you’ve said.
Engstrand What?
Regine ‘Not mine. Nothing to do with me.’ That’s what
you said before.
Engstrand When?
Regine When you’re drunk.
Engstrand Well, then I’m drunk. The drink made me do
it. The drink and your mother. Yes. I said it to get back at
her. Pushing me, needling me, she was. Saying she’s too
good for me – just like you now. Up here in the big house for
three years she was, and I never heard the last of it. ‘Get
your hands off me, don’t touch me . . . I belong in Captain
Alving’s house.’ Up here with Captain Alving not down
there with shameful old me.
Regine Well, she’s dead now. Happy?
Engstrand That’s my fault, is it?
Regine She died too young. Probably just to get away
from you.
Pause.
Engstrand You look just like her, you know.
Pause.
Regine Why do you want me in town?
Engstrand Why? Because you’re my girl. Because you’re
all I have in the world.
Regine And? . . . And?
Engstrand I’ve had an idea.
Regine Not again.
Engstrand A new one.

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 6 Ghosts

Regine A new disaster.

Engstrand Not a disaster. Not this time . . . I’ve been saving
– money. Eight hundred Kroner.
Regine I don’t believe you.
Engstrand I’ve been working ­non-­stop. I built half that
children’s home. And what is there to spend it on up here?
Regine Go on.
Engstrand I’m going to start a business. In town. It’s a
kind of home for sailors.
Regine Down the port?
Engstrand A nice place. A classy place. Not some dump for
crew – for captains, officers. Proper people. A place to drink,
to stay, to – socialise.
Regine And I would be . . .?
Engstrand The face of the operation. A female face.
Greeting them after weeks at sea. You work ­fifteen-­hour
days up here – you’d work four hours a night down there.
Easy life. You’d be free.
Regine I’m not going back to town. And I’m not staying
here either. Trust me.
Engstrand You’ve got to be smart, Regine. You live on the
estate, Mrs Alving put you through school, but now what?
They’re like your family, but they’re not your family. I heard
they’re going to put you to work in the children’s home. A
thousand bastard brats puking and crying. Is that what you
want? Is that your life?
Regine Eight hundred Kroner?
Engstrand For a new start. For us.
Regine I need clothes. A new dress.
Engstrand You can have any dress you want – if you come.

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 I, Scene One 7

Regine You think I can’t do it on my own?

Engstrand I think a father to guide you’s better. In our
new home. Our house for sailors.
Regine I don’t want to live with you. I don’t want anything
to do with you. Now – Ow!
Regine, distracted by Engstrand’s proposition, has let a match
burn down to her fingers. She is hurt.
Regine Ow!
Engstrand My girl.
Regine Get out. Leave!
Engstrand Shh – shh – shh.
He moves to comfort her. He is touching her.
Hey. It won’t be forever. I promise. I promise. If you play it
smart. You’re a beautiful girl now. A beautiful woman.
Regine Am I?
Engstrand Yes. And it won’t be long before an officer – a
captain even.
Regine I don’t want to marry a sailor. They’ve got no
savoir vivre.
Engstrand No one’s talking about marrying them. You
understand me? That Englishman – that captain, with the
yacht – he ended up paying three hundred Kroner – three
hundred for one night – and she was no better looking than
you.
Regine Get out. Je te déteste!
She pushes him. Engstrand grips his leg.
Engstrand Ow! Don’t hurt me. You wouldn’t hurt me. I’m
an old man.

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 8 Ghosts

Regine You say one word about my mother ever again and
I’ll hit you so hard that shit leg’ll be your best feature.
Engstrand ‘Shh! Shh! Mr Alving’s asleep – Shh! – Mr
Alving’s asleep’ . . . Embarrassing. Can smell it on you a mile
off.
Regine Get out. Not that way, that way. I don’t want the
Father to see you here, you . . . Stain.
Engstrand (leaving) Ask the Father about my proposition.
I’m serious – and what will he say? ‘Honour thy father and
mother.’ (Returning.) Because I am your father. No matter
what. He wrote it in the parish register himself.
Father Manders has appeared. Engstrand’s gone.
Scene Two
Manders Good morning, Miss Engstrand.
Regine Good morning, Father. The ferry’s been?
Manders Been and gone. It was a rough crossing. It’s
lashing down.
Regine God has opened up the heavens.
Manders I’m sorry?
Regine I mean . . . That’s what we say up here.
Manders Is Mrs Alving here? She’s expecting me.
Regine She’s making coffee. Herself. For sir.
Manders Sir? For Osvald? He’s here?
Regine Came back the day before yesterday. For the
opening of the children’s home.
Manders And how is he? Is he well?
Regine He’s tired. He took the train all the way from Paris.
And soaked on the boat of course. He’s still in bed now.
Manders has started to take off his boots.

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 I, Scene Two 9

Regine Can I help you with that, Father?

Manders Oh – thank you.
She begins to unlace his boots. Short pause.
Manders When did I last see you, Regine? You look –
different.
Regine What do you mean, Father?
Manders I mean . . . You’ve matured.
Regine Have I? I suppose I have. Do you think so, Father?
Mrs Alving says I’m not a girl anymore.
Manders She’s right.
Short pause.
Regine Shall I tell Mrs Alving you’re here?
Manders There’s no rush . . . Tell me: how is your father?
Regine He’s his usual self.
Manders But how often do you see him?
Regine I’m up here at the house, so . . .
Manders takes hold of Regine.
Manders He needs you, Regine. You know that. He needs
someone to keep him on the right path. He came to see me
in town. He confessed as much himself.
Regine He’s not said that to me.
Manders You’re the only family he has, Regine. You and
he: you’re bound together.
Regine Mrs Alving needs me in the house. And from
tomorrow in the children’s home.
Manders She’ll understand. Come back to him.
Regine It wouldn’t look right: a young girl living with an
old man.

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 10 Ghosts

Manders But he’s your father.

Regine slowly takes off his second boot.
Regine If it was a nice place. With a proper person. A
gentleman. That’d be different. Someone who would look
after me, and in return, someone I could devote myself to.
Look up to. Almost like their daughter . . . For someone like
that I’d come back to town. If I’m honest it does get pretty
lonely up here. But you’d know all about that, Father. You
know what it is to be alone in this world. And I’d work very
hard for someone like that, Father. I’m very – enthusiastic.
For life . . . So you’ll promise you’ll tell me?
Manders What?
Regine If you think of a man like that. For me.
Manders I’m sorry, Regine. But I don’t know anyone like
that.
Regine Well . . . If anyone springs to mind.
Manders I think you’d better tell Mrs Alving I’m here.
Helene has appeared. Regine’s gone.
Scene Three
Helene Welcome, Father.
Manders Helene. Here I am – as promised. At your service.
Helene Right on time. As always.
Manders It wasn’t easy to get away. I’m very busy in town.
Meetings, boards . . . committees . . . s­ ub-­committees.
Helene Yet you still manage to find time for me. I’m very
grateful. Shall we get all the business done before lunch? . . .
Where are your bags?
Manders They’re down at the harbour. I’ll sleep there
tonight.
Helene So I still can’t persuade you to stay the night?

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 I, Scene Three 11

Manders No. Thank you. I’ll stay there as usual. And it’s so
convenient for the boat back tomorrow.
Helene Have it your way. You don’t think that two people,
at our age, are perfectly capable of controlling ourselves?
Manders You’re joking. And it’s very funny. You’re in a
good mood.
He has picked up a book.
Because of the ceremony tomorrow? Or because Osvald’s
home?
He stares at the spine of the book.
Helene The sunshine of my life’s come back. He hasn’t
been home for two years – and now he’s promised to stay for
Christmas.
Manders He must really want his mother. Why else would
he come home from Rome, Paris. Such exotic places.
Helene He’s devoted to me. My sweet boy.
Manders I’m glad to hear it. It would be sad if separation
from you, and the life of the artist, had disfigured his natural
instincts.
Helene There’s nothing wrong with his instincts, Father.
There’s nothing wrong with him at all. I want you to see
him. I want to see if you recognise him. He’ll be down soon.
Manders Then in the meantime. Maybe you and I should
get down to business.
Helene Of course.
Manders But before we do. (Holding up the book.) Whose is
this? . . . Is this Osvald’s?
Helene It’s mine.
Manders It’s not . . . And you’re reading this?
Helene That’s what I tend to do with books.

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 12 Ghosts

Manders Why are you reading this?

Helene Because . . . Because I like it.
Manders What do you like about it? Tell me. I’m interested
(He hands her the book.) Does it make you a happier person?
Does it make you a better person? Hm? . . . What’s it about?
Helene You know what it’s about.
Manders I don’t.
Helene You do. Of course you do.
Manders I want you to tell me. What’s it about?
Helene . . . It’s about . . .
Manders Yes?
Helene If you’re so intrigued you can borrow it. (Trying to
hand it back to him.) Here.
Manders I don’t want it.
Helene Here. What? . . . It’s just paper. It won’t bite.
Manders I said I don’t want it.
Helene I recommend Chapter 15.
He takes the book and throws it away from her.
Manders You haven’t answered my question: do you feel
happier when you read this? Truthfully.
Helene I . . . I feel calm.
Manders Calm?
Helene Because . . . It says things that I already think,
already feel. There’s nothing new in this book. Just what
people already know, inside, if they’re honest. But then
people aren’t honest.
She picks up the book.

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 I, Scene Three 13

Manders In Rome and Paris perhaps, but not here. Not us.
This is just fashion. We live an older truth.
Helene Why are you so threatened by it?
Manders I’m not threatened by it. I don’t even have time
to read it.
Helene So then you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Manders I’ve read about it. I know what it is.
Helene If you read it you could have your own opinion.
Manders I trust the word of others. I trust the word of
those around me. That’s how society works. I trust my
community and the values that we share together. We
protect each other. We watch over each other. Why don’t
you see that?
Helene has no response this time.
Manders (taking the book) Look, I’m not saying that a book
like this can’t be . . . seductive. And I know that you’re only
trying to understand what’s going in the world. The world
you sent your son out into for so long. But . . .
Helene But what?
Manders (handing her the book back) I just wouldn’t shout
about it, if I were you. I don’t want you to be the subject of
gossip
Helene Of course you’re right.
Manders Think about your responsibility to the children’s
home.
Helene No, you’re right. Thank you.
Manders Good. So to business. I have all the paperwork
with me. Everything’s ready. I just need you to sign. It wasn’t
easy. Licensing, governance, finances: I had to push to get
everything through. The authorities are painfully stringent
when it comes to signing things off. But I did it. First there’s

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 14 Ghosts

the registered deeds to the property. Everything’s listed:

dormitories, classrooms, staff quarters, the chapel. Then
secondly, there is the appropriation of the legacy, and the
statutes of the foundation. ‘The articles of association for the
Captain Alving Children’s Home.’
Helene So . . . this is it.
Manders Next are details of the savings account and
interest-bearing capital we’ve put aside to cover the running
costs.
Helene Yes. Are you happy to oversee all of that?
Manders Of course, but it’s very important you
understand it. I recommend we let the money sit in the
savings bank for now, even though the rate of interest is not
ideal: four per cent at six months’ notice. Of course at a later
date we can look to borrow against the property, but only if
we can find a good mortgage – which of course would have
to be a first mortgage – and one of undisputed security. But
are you happy with that?
Helene I’m sure you know best, Father.
Manders There’s only one more thing – I’ve been meaning
to ask you for a while . . . How do you propose to deal with
the insurance situation?
Helene The . . .?
Manders The question of insurance . . . Do you want the
children’s home insured? Or not?
Helene I . . . Well, I insure everything here. The house,
the personal property.
Manders Obviously. Your own property. I do the same.
But I don’t need to tell you that the children’s home is very
different. Because the children’s home is dedicated to a
higher purpose. God’s purpose . . . Now, speaking
personally, I wouldn’t find it in any way problematic to
safeguard ourselves against all eventualities.

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 I, Scene Three 15

Helene I agree.
Manders But we’re not the only people involved here.
Helene We’re not?
Manders Of course not. Setting up an institution like this
– for the most vulnerable children: the orphaned, the
abandoned – that brings with it . . . scrutiny. And that in turn
brings the opinions of others. Important people, powerful
people.
And the opinions of all those that vote for them.
Helene The children’s home is a memorial, in my late
husband’s name. It is funded entirely by his wealth.
Manders But that won’t protect us against people who
might take offence?
Helene Offence?
Manders And in the town those people are everywhere.
Just think of supporters of my enemies on the council. You
do understand that spending all this money on insurance
opens us up to an accusation. The accusation that you and I
lack faith? . . . After all, we’re doing God’s work up here, so
will not God protect us?
Beat.
Of course our conscience is clear, but that won’t stop the
misinterpretation of others. I’ve acted as your advisor and
business manager here, and that’s something people can use
against me. Of course it’s of huge benefit to the town – and
significantly reduces their welfare spending – but that
doesn’t mean I’m not exposed. Exposed to opponents who’ll
say that I don’t believe God will protect those children. I
don’t want to risk any kind of scandal that might affect –
Helene (overlapping) Scandal?

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 16 Ghosts

Manders In public, or behind closed doors. Attacks and

insinuations undermining my work. It could be very
damaging. You understand that don’t you, Helene?
Helene Of course.
Manders So the question is: do you want the children’s
home insured – or not?
Helene I . . . No.
Manders Because it has to be your decision.
Helene I’m sure. My mind’s made up.
Manders But if an accident were to happen – God forbid
– would you have the funds to repair the damage?
Helene No. No I wouldn’t.
Manders You do realise how big a responsibility you’re
taking on?
Helene Do you think we have any other choice?
Manders No. No, I don’t believe we do. But I do have faith
that God will grant us special protection. So it’s settled.
Helene Yes.
Manders No insurance.
Helene It’s strange that you should bring this up today.
Manders Why?
Helene Because there was a fire there yesterday.
Manders What?
Helene A small one. A false alarm. A pile of sawdust caught
fire. In the carpenter’s shop.
Manders Where Engstrand works?
Helene He smokes constantly. Twenty cigarettes a day,
that’s twenty matches.

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 I, Scene Four 17

Manders That man’s plagued by temptation on all sides.

But I know he tries. I know he prays.
Helene How do you know?
Manders He told me himself. He works hard too.
Helene When he’s not drunk.
Manders His leg makes him drink – he’s in such pain. He
came to see me in town. He thanked me for getting him the
job here, so he could be with Regine.
Helene He hardly sees her.
Manders He needs her. He’s nothing but honest about his
weakness. And not afraid to ask for help. I think he needs
his daughter, Helene. At home.
Helene No.
Manders Don’t stand in the way.
Helene I will. I need Regine up here – in the children’s
home.
Manders But he’s her father.
Helene Then he should act like it.
Manders You can’t sever that bond – between parent
and child.
Helene Regine stays here. She belongs here.
Osvald has appeared. He is smoking.
Scene Four
Osvald Sorry. I didn’t know you were in here.
Manders stares at Osvald.
Helene Well? What do you think of him, Father?
Manders Is that really you?
Osvald It really is. Hello, Father.

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 18 Ghosts

They embrace.
Osvald The return of the prodigal son.
Manders No.
Osvald The return of the son then.
Manders Welcome home, Osvald.
Helene Osvald was reminding me how you tried to stop
him becoming a painter.
Manders That’s not true. I have no problem with artists. I
just advised you to take care. That world can be . . . And
those people. I just worry they don’t have your best interests
at heart.
Osvald But you do.
Helene Don’t worry about his heart, Father. Or any part of
him. He’s just as perfect as the day he left.
Osvald All right, mother.
He puts out his cigarette.
Manders You’re making quite a name for yourself. The
toast of the art world. Though I haven’t seen anything in the
papers for a while.
Osvald I haven’t been painting much.
Helene Artists need to rest – recharge. Find inspiration.
Manders I’m sure that’s right. Readying yourself for your
next masterpiece, eh?
Osvald (to Helene) When are we going to eat?
Helene Half an hour. He’s still got his appetite.
Manders And a taste for nicotine.
Osvald I found Daddy’s silver lighter in the attic. Here.
He shows it. Sparks a flame.

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 I, Scene Four 19

And then I . . .
He lights a cigarette.
Manders That’s it.
Helene What?
Manders When he’s smoking I see his father. Standing
right there.
Osvald Really?
Helene No. He takes after me.
Manders He looks identical.
Helene (taking the cigarette out of Osvald’s mouth and
extinguishing it) Please no more smoking. Inside, anyway.
Osvald (looking at the lighter) I just wanted to try it. I haven’t
smoked since I was a child.
Helene What?
Osvald Yes. I did. I don’t know how old I was. I was young.
Six, seven. It was in here. I saw Dad smoking. He seemed so
. . . happy.
Helene You can’t remember that far back
Osvald Yes. He sat me on his lap. ‘Here,’ he said . . . ‘Suck’
. . . ‘Good boy’. And I smoked. One – two puffs. Three. I felt
so sick – I had sweat pouring down my face. And he was –
laughing.
Helene This is just a dream.
Osvald You were there. You came in – carried me to my
bedroom. I threw up. You were crying. Did he often do
things like that?
Manders He loved his silly jokes. When he was young. He
grew out of all that. Think of everything he achieved for the
town – the community.

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 20 Ghosts

Osvald He did so much, didn’t he? Even though he wasn’t

here for long.
Manders You’ve inherited a great name, Osvald Alving.
That should inspire you.
Osvald It should do, yes.
Manders Tomorrow, you’ll feel so proud.
Helene And after that I get to keep him until Christmas.
Manders You’re staying?
Osvald I haven’t bought a ticket back. It’s good to be home.
Helene (embracing Osvald) Isn’t it?
Manders You were so young when you left.
Osvald I was. Sometimes I think too young.
Helene No. It’s good to get out in the world. Especially an
only child. If you’d stayed home we’d have spoilt you.
Manders With respect, Helene, I don’t know that’s true.
The proper place for a child is at home with his parents.
Osvald I agree with you, Father.
Manders Just look at your own son. What’s been the effect
on him? He’s 23 years old and he’s never known a proper
home.
Osvald What do you mean?
Manders That you left here so young, you were barely –
Osvald No, the part about a proper home.
Manders I mean you’ve been with young people. In
artistic circles.
Osvald Yes?
Manders Not people, I imagine, prioritising marriage
– building a home.

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 I, Scene Four 21

Osvald They have homes. Where d’you think they live?

Under a table in an opium den?
Manders Very funny. I’m talking about family homes.
Osvald How do you define family?
Manders That’s easy: a mother, a father and their children.
Osvald Lots of my friends have children.
Manders In a marital home?
Osvald In all sorts of homes. With a mother and father, or
just a mother, a father and a father, a mother and mother, or
a community –
Manders (overlapping) My point is that’s different.
Osvald Your point is that’s worse. But I’ve seen all kinds of
families full of love and warmth and care –
Manders It’s important for a child to grow up with a father
and a mother. Surely you can’t deny that.
Osvald I think it’s love that makes a home, Father. And
love doesn’t always follow your rules.
Helene I agree with Osvald.
Manders I know this is unpalatable to you but broken
homes make broken people.
Osvald Why don’t you come visit us, Father. Join us on a
Sunday.
Manders Sunday is the Lord’s Day.
Osvald Sundays are when we’re all together. Friends,
their children. Cooking, talking, playing.
Manders Drinking alcohol. Taking drugs. What a utopian
vision. Parenting requires discipline, sacrifice. This
‘freedom’ you describe is just ­self-­gratification. Tell me: your
friends with children, are they the same artists who paint
­under-­age prostitutes?

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 22 Ghosts

Osvald You seem to know a lot about what goes on in

Paris, Father? Did you hear that from your friends? Model
husbands and fathers, returning from their travels abroad
with warnings of vice and debauchery.
Manders I’ve heard stories, yes.
Helene So have I.
Manders So I have good reason to be worried about
your son.
Osvald You know, sometimes when those men come to
Paris on business they even do the honour of joining us poor
artists for a drink. And they drink, and they drink, and they
tell us all about places and things we never even dreamed of.
So when they tell you all about ‘the vice of Paris’, you should
believe them, Father. Trust me, they’re experts.
Helene Osvald.
Osvald And yet they dare, they dare, to come back here
and call the way we live immoral. To take our lives, that are
beautiful, loving and free, and smear them with their filth.
Helene (overlapping) Osvald. It’s alright, my darling. Don’t
make yourself sick.
Osvald You’re right, mother. You’re right . . . I get so tired.
I need to stop. I’ll go for a walk – get some air. I’m sorry,
Father. This . . . Thing. It takes me over . . . I’m sorry.
He goes.
Scene Five
Helene My poor boy.
Manders His soul is lost.
Beat.
He called himself the prodigal son. He understands that.
Beat.

And what about you? You’ve nothing to say about that?

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 I, Scene Five 23

Helene Every word he said is true.

Manders True?
Helene Since I’ve been alone I’ve started to think like him,
Father. But I’ve been too scared to say it. Now my son will
speak for me.
Manders I feel sorry for you. But I can’t let that stop me.
I’m not your business advisor standing before you now. I’m
not the old friend of your husband. I am your priest. The
priest that stood before you in the most desperate moment
of your life.
Helene And what does my priest want to say?
Manders I want you to remember what you did. It’s time.
Tomorrow’s ten years to the day your husband died.
Tomorrow we dedicate the children’s home to his memory.
Tomorrow I’ll speak of him in public, but tonight I speak
only to you. One year into your marriage when you came to
me. You were desperate, on the verge of collapse. You’d
abandoned your home, abandoned your husband. He
pleaded with you to come home but you would not.
Helene Then you must remember too how unhappy I
was . . .
Manders Unhappy? You made a sacred oath to love and
honour him.
Helene You know the kind of man I married.
Manders The man you married. Committed to, before God
– before me. What did those words mean to you, Helene?
Helene You know the way he treated me. Others too.

Manders He was young. So were you. He made mistakes.

So did you. It was your place to help him – not to judge him.
To carry him through. But instead you were selfish. Selfish
and reckless. You pushed aside the man you were bound to
help. And you put your reputation at risk – the reputation
of others.

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 24 Ghosts

Helene You mean you.

Manders You never should have come to me.
Helene I had nowhere to go. You were my friend. You
were my priest.
Manders I was. And I thank the Lord that I had the
strength to do what was right. To talk you out of your wild
ideas. To lead you back to your lawful husband.
Helene That’s true: you sent me back to him.
Manders I was directed by a higher power. To bend you to
obedience, to surrender, to service. And look at all the good
that followed. He grew up – turned his back on that
behaviour. You had years of happy marriage. Years of
partnership – everything you did for the town, together.
And you had a son. But that brought you to your second
greatest sin.
Helene What do you mean?
Manders First you refused to be a wife, and then you
refused to be a mother. The only thing you care about is
doing whatever you want. You want to be free. No
commitments. No sacrifice. Any obligation that gets in your
way you trample over. Anyone that inconveniences you gets
shoved aside. Being a wife didn’t suit you: you walked out of
your marriage. Being a mother was too great an imposition:
you sent your child to be brought up by strangers.
Helene Yes, that’s true. That’s what I did.
Manders And now you’re a stranger to him.
Helene No. I’m not.
Manders Yes you are. How could you not be. Don’t lie to
yourself. Face it. You sinned against your husband, but now
you’ve built a memorial to make it right. You’ve sinned
against your son but there’s still time to save him. Repent
your sins and turn him back from immorality – from death.

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 I, Scene Five 25

You are responsible. You are his mother. The guilt resides
with you.
Silence.
Helene You’ve had your say, Father. Now I want to talk.
Manders Excuses will not help your son.
Helene I want to speak.
Short pause.
The first year of our marriage you used to visit us every day.
Do you remember, Father? Every single day. But after you
sent me back to my husband, you never set foot in our
house again.
Manders You left the town, came up here.
Helene Yes and you never came to visit. Not once. Not
when my husband was alive. The first time you came here
was to discuss the children’s home.
Manders Helene, you know who I am, you know my
position –
Helene (overlapping) Yes and God forbid that’s tarnished by
a reckless woman – by a runaway wife.
Manders Enough hysterics.
Helene Yes. Let’s just deal in facts. Facts about fourteen
years of ‘happy marriage’ you sent me back to. Fourteen
years of happy marriage that you weren’t here for one single
day of.
Manders Make your point.
Helene How do you know we were happy?
Manders Your work together flourished; you had a son.
Helene I swore one day I’d tell you the truth – only you
– and now that day is here.

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 26 Ghosts

Manders Then say it.

Helene My husband died a sinner. He sinned his whole life.
He never ‘found his way back to the light’, Father. No he
drank, and drank, and lied, and cheated and cheated and
cheated.
Manders That’s not possible. When he was young, perhaps
but . . .
Helene How do you think he died, Father?
Manders . . . I don’t understand.
Helene No you don’t – because our marriage was a lie,
from start to finish.
Manders I don’t believe you – sorry. You couldn’t keep
this secret. People would have known.
Helene People didn’t know because I made sure they
didn’t know. It got a little better after Osvald was born. But it
didn’t last. Then I had to fight twice as hard to make sure no
one knew what kind of man my baby’s father really was.
Everyone loved him of course – so generous, so charming
– but I couldn’t let anyone see the real him. I tried to keep
him here as much as possible – stop him drinking in town. I
became his accomplice.
Shut away with him up here, drinking with him night after
night. It felt endless –- listening to whatever obscenity
poured out of his mouth. Bragging about his conquests.
Every night I had to fight, to get him off me and into bed.
Manders But how could you bear this?
Helene I had to. For my little boy. I found a way. Even
when – when he . . .
Manders When he what?
Helene I could block out the affairs outside the house. But
when I kept him here, he brought them home.

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 I, Scene Five 27

Manders Home?
Helene I was in here when I heard it. I heard Johanna –
Regine’s mother – making dinner through there. I heard
him come in. He was saying something to her. I could tell he
was drunk. She was whispering . . . I can hear them now. It
was devastating. Humiliating. I heard her whisper, ‘No.
Leave me alone. Please.’
Manders I don’t condone it of course, but he was playing
with her – fooling around.
Helene No. He’d had her. And soon there was evidence
even you could not ignore.
Manders But here, in this house?
Helene Here. Here with my boy. It was then I made a vow:
to make this stop. I took control. Of him, the house, of
everyone. Because now I had a weapon against him: proof of
the affair. He couldn’t resist. It was then I sent Osvald away.
He was almost seven. He would notice things, see things, ask
questions. I couldn’t bear it, Father. I knew he would be
poisoned here – breathing in this tainted air. So now you
know why I sent him away. And now you know why he never
set foot here again while his father was alive. But no one
knows how much that’s cost me.
Manders You’ve been truly tested, Helene.
Helene I couldn’t have got through it without my work. I
worked, non-stop. All of Captain Alving’s success: the
acquisition of property, the charity foundations – do you
honestly think he was capable of that? He was passed out on
the sofa. I drove everything. On his brighter days I dressed
him up and sent him into town, but I took him back home
before he had the chance to collapse into his drink and
­self-­pity.
Manders And this is the man you’ve built a memorial to?

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 28 Ghosts

Helene For years I’ve lived in fear of the truth coming

out. The things they’d call me. The stain on Osvald’s name.
The children’s home is a permanent monument to Alving’s
goodness. It will kill off all the rumours, it’ll bury any
doubts.
Manders It must.
Helene There’s another reason too. I don’t want Osvald to
inherit a single penny from his father. Nothing. All the
money I’ve invested in the children’s home, year upon year,
it adds up to – and I’ve calculated this precisely – the exact
amount of money Alving had the day I married him. That
was the price that I sold myself for. Every penny of it I’ve
spent on the children’s home. Everything Osvald inherits, he
gets from me. Nothing of his father will remain.
Scene Six
Osvald is here.
Osvald This rain is eternal.
Helene You’re back already.
Osvald It’s chucking it down.
Helene My poor boy. Are you freezing?
Osvald I’m hungry.
Regine is there.
Regine Lunch is served.
Helene Good. Yes. We’re coming. We just need a moment.
Regine Would Mr Alving like me to open the red or white?
Osvald (approaching Regine) Both, Regine. Both.
Regine Très bien, monsieur.
Osvald I better help you get them open.

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 II, Scene Six 29

Manders I don’t know how I can speak tomorrow knowing

this.
Helene You’ll manage. Toe the line. You’re good at that.
Manders People must never know.
Helene Exactly. Let’s get this done. After tomorrow his
ghost will be gone from this house.
Osvald kisses Regine.
Helene It’ll be like he never existed. There’ll only be
mother and son.
Helene stops in her tracks. She’s seen Osvald and Regine kissing.
Regine, unaware of Helene watching, pushes Osvald off her and
whispers:
Regine Sir . . . No. Let me go. Please . . .
Osvald continues to kiss her.
Manders What is it?
Helene The dead have come back . . . Johanna. And
Alving.
Manders can now see the couple too.
Manders But . . .
Helene They’re ghosts. They’re his son and his daughter.
Manders You mean that . . . Regine is . . .? . . . but then
Osvald and she are . . .?

II
Helene Don’t say a word. (Speaking so Osvald and Regine
hear.) I hope you’re hungry, Father.
Manders I...

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 30 Ghosts

Helene Let’s get you some wine. Osvald? Are you

joining us?
Osvald No. Thank you. I’m going outside to smoke.
Osvald and Regine resume kissing.
Helene Good. I mean – at least it’s stopped raining.
Regine? . . . Regine?
Regine prises Osvald off her.
Regine Yes, madam.
Helene You can leave us. Go upstairs and start folding the
hymn sheets for tomorrow.
Regine Yes, madam.
Regine leaves.
Scene Seven
Manders I feel sick. I can’t even think about food.
Helene What are we going to do?
Manders I have no experience of – anything like this.
Helene I’m sure we’re not too late. That they’ve not . . .
Manders No. God forbid. It’s unnatural.
Helene It’s nothing. It’s an infatuation. It’s nothing.
Manders Why are you asking me? I don’t know anything
about – that.
Helene She has to leave.
Manders Tonight.
Helene But where to? We can’t just put her on the street.
Manders She should go to her father, of course.
Helene To who?

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 II, Scene Seven 31

Manders Her father: Engstrand –. No, this isn’t possible.

Engstrand is her father.
Helene Johanna confessed it. He didn’t deny it. She left
that night.
Manders She was pregnant?
Helene I gave her money. A lot of money. I made her
promise never to say a word. When she got to town she did
the rest. She looked up an old acquaintance: Engstrand.
Told him some story about getting pregnant by an officer or
admiral, and getting paid off. She and Engstrand married
straight away. Well, you married them yourself.
Manders He came to me. He was distraught. Wracked by
guilt. He begged me to marry them. He said they were
engaged.
Helene He wanted her. And he wanted the money.
Manders He lied to my face. For money! How much did
you give her?
Helene Three hundred.
Manders Marrying a fallen women for three hundred
Kroner.
Helene You married me to a fallen man.
Manders That’s completely different.
Helene You’re right. He got three hundred, I got the
whole estate.
Manders You were engaged, you were in love.
Helene I was in love. I was in love with you.
Manders If I’d known I wouldn’t have come so often. I
wouldn’t have visited every day.

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 32 Ghosts

Helene I didn’t want to marry him. My mother did the

sums, you know. Wrote it down, showed me what the
marriage was worth. I felt I had no choice.
Manders Your marriage was entered into freely. In the
sight of God, in accordance with all laws.
Helene I’m done with laws. God’s or anyone else’s.
Manders That’s enough.
Helene I never should have kept his secrets. I should have
told the world what my husband was. But I was afraid – of
what everyone would say: ‘She left him first. She betrayed
him.’
Manders And you don’t think that’s true?
Helene If I wasn’t such a coward I’d tell Osvald the truth.
Just as I told you. This was your father, the great Captain
Alving.
Manders You’re scaring me, Helene.
Helene Oh, don’t worry. I’ll say nothing – nothing because
I’m a coward. A coward.
Manders It’s not cowardice to protect your son. It’s natural
that a boy loves his father.
Helene Is it natural Osvald loves a lie?
Manders Listen to your conscience. Osvald idolises him.
He longs for his family. You estranged him from his father
once, don’t do it again.
Helene But I’ve lied to him his whole life.
Manders There’s a reason you created this illusion.
Helene Letter after letter, year after year.
Manders Your son needs his father.
Helene I don’t know . . . But I do know that he cannot be
with Regine. It would destroy them both.

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 II, Scene Seven 33

Manders I forbid it.

Helene But then if I knew he was serious. If he – liked her.
If it would make him happy . . .
Manders What?
Helene Maybe if I weren’t such a coward I’d say: marry
her. Or don’t marry her, but be with her. Do whatever you
want, but be happy and no more lies.
Manders Lord God have mercy on your soul. I would
never sanction such a marriage. Never.
Helene Do you honestly think that’s never happened?
Hand on heart, do you honestly think you’ve never met a
couple that’s related like them?
Manders I don’t know what you mean.
Helene Even up here?
Manders Listen, I don’t think . . .
Helene What?
Manders I think . . . Look, in some families things might
not always be as clear cut as they should be, but the fact that
you, as a mother, would tell your son to –
Helene I won’t. I won’t say that to him.
Manders But why? Because you’re a coward? Not because
it’s wrong, perverted – against nature, against God – but
because you’re afraid?
Helene Yes. Because I feel so frightened. Every day. Too
frightened to speak, to act . . . I see them everywhere, Father
. . . Ghosts. Like Osvald and Regine in the next room. The
dead come back to life. Sometimes I think we’re all dead,
Father. Dead but still alive. It’s not just our parents coming
back in us. We’re full of dead laws and dead beliefs. Dead
ideas about how to live. I reach for people, and dead words
fall from their mouths. There’re ghosts everywhere, Father.
They’re here right now. And we’re all so pathetically
frightened. We can’t break free.

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 34 Ghosts

Manders Put down those evil books, Helene. Let go of

your deceitful plans. Of your rebellion. Come back towards
the light.
Helene I can see the light, Father. I see it thanks to you.
When I stood before you – when you pushed me away. When
you sent me back to a life that was all lies – that you knew was
lies . . . I had to understand why you did that. Why you felt
what I felt, but couldn’t admit it. Why you held up as right
and true everything I knew, inside, was wrong. Duty,
convention, shame . . . It was you made a rebel out of me.
Manders What I did was right, Helene. It was the greatest
battle of my life. The battle against myself. But I won.
Helene No you lost. It was a crime against us both.
Manders You were crying, you were – wild. You said to me
. . . ‘I’m here . . . Take me . . . Have me . . .’ When I led you
back – when I said to you, ‘Go back to your lawful husband’,
was that a crime?
Helene Yes. I think it was.
Manders I don’t understand you.
Helene I think you did. Once. That night.
Manders Helene, listen to me . . . Listen. I have never . . .
never . . . even in my most secret thoughts, ever thought of
you as anything but another man’s wife.
Helene Is that true?
Manders Yes.
Helene How easily we forget who we were.
Manders No. I’m the same as I always was.
Helene . . . Yes. Yes. Yes . . . Either way, those people are
dead. Now you’re just a man who talks about insurance, and
I’m just a woman seeing ghosts . . .
Manders We can’t allow Osvald and Regine to be together.

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 II, Scene Eight 35

Helene She must marry someone else. We’ll find her a

good match.
Manders As soon as possible. She’s ready. Of age. Not that
I notice things like that.
Helene She matured young.
Manders She did, didn’t she. I could see – when I
prepared her for confirmation – that she was . . . Developed.
But first, she must go home to her father. No, Engstrand is
not her father. I cannot believe he lied to me!
Engstrand is here.
Scene Eight
Engstrand I do beg your pardon.
Manders You.
Helene Good evening, Mr Engstrand.
Engstrand None of the maids were here. I took the liberty
of coming in.
Helene Is there something I can help you with?
Engstrand No. But thank you. It’s the Father I have
business with.
Manders You want to talk to me?
Engstrand I do.
Manders About what?
Engstrand Well . . . I wanted to tell you: we’ve all been
paid down there now – thank you very much, madam. And
as we all worked so hard on it together, maybe we should
finish it all off with little service down there, led by your
good self.
Manders At the children’s home.

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 36 Ghosts

Engstrand Yes. But if you don’t think that’s appropriate

...
Manders Of course I do. But –
Engstrand I say a prayer there every evening myself.
Helene Do you?
Manders (simultaneously) Do you?
Engstrand Most nights. To ask for help. But I’m just a
common man, of course. I don’t have the proper words, God
forgive me. But then I thought: as the Father’s here . . .
Manders First you must answer a question, Engstrand.
Engstrand A question?
Manders Do you possess the correct state of mind for such
a blessing? Is your conscience clear?
Engstrand My conscience? Right. Conscience is a messy
business, Father.
Manders I am ready to hear your confession.
Engstrand I’m not sure there’s quite time for that.
Manders I want the truth. About Regine.
Helene Father.
Engstrand Regine? Has something happened to her?
Manders You are her father, are you not?
Engstrand Right. The Father knows about me and
Johanna. God rest her soul.
Manders No more evasion. Johanna confessed everything
to Mrs Alving.
Engstrand She did, did she?
Manders I’ve found you out, Engstrand.
Engstrand Thing is, she promised me she didn’t.

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 II, Scene Eight 37

Manders And all these years you’ve concealed the truth

from me. From me, who placed all my faith in you,
unconditionally.
Engstrand Yes, Father. I’m afraid I have.
Manders How could you do this to me, Engstrand? I’ve
always supported you – done everything I could for you.
Answer me.
Engstrand I’d have been sunk so many times without
Father Manders.
Manders And this is my reward? I have set down a lie in
the parish register because of you. Year upon year you
deceived me – abused my trust. This is it for you and me,
Engstrand. I want nothing more to do with you – and no,
don’t try and change my mind. I don’t want another word
from you: this is the end.
Pause.
Engstrand May I just have permission to ask you one tiny
question?
Beat.
Have you ever done anything that, in the eyes of another
man, might be considered a sin?
Beat.
And Father, is it not man’s holy duty to raise up those who’ve
fallen?
Manders Yes. Yes it is.
Engstrand Thank you, Father. And is it not also the duty of
a man to keep his word?
Manders Yes. Yes it is a man’s duty to keep his word.
Engstrand Then imagine, Father – just imagine, if you can
– that a fallen woman had come to you. What would you
have done? . . . Is it right for us men to judge a weak woman

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 38 Ghosts

so harshly? When Johanna had been abused by that

Englishman – or was he American? Or Russian? Anyway, she
was all alone, Father. She was desperate. Thing is, the poor
girl had rejected my advances once or twice in the past,
because there she was a beautiful girl and here I am with this
dodgy leg. You remember how I got my injury don’t you,
Father – I know you do. I’d ventured into a dance hall,
minding my own business – except handing out the odd
Christian pamphlet on temperance and moderation –
Manders And a crew of drunken sailors threw you down
the stairs. I know, Engstrand – you’ve bragged of this before.
Engstrand No, it hasn’t made me proud, Father. Far from
it. But anyway what I wanted to tell you was this: when poor
Johanna came to me, confided in me, she was crying her
eyes out. And I must confess, that truthfully, in my heart . . .
I felt sorrow for her.
Manders And then?
Engstrand Then I took her hands and I said to her: ‘That
American’s off on the seven seas and he’s left you here poor
girl, a fallen creature and sinner. But I will do my duty . . .’ I
raised her up, Father – raised her up and wed her, so no
one’d ever know the shame she suffered.
Manders But you did this for money, Engstrand. She had
money which you took from her.
Engstrand Money? Me? Not a single coin.
Manders (looking to Helene) But you said that –
Engstrand Hold on. Yes, I remember now. Johanna did
have a few coins on her, now you mention it – but I wanted
nothing to do with that. I said: ‘Mammon, the wages of sin.’
I said, ‘Let’s go find that American – throw it back in his
face’. But of course he was gone. Across the ocean, Father. So
Johanna and I agreed that every Kroner should be spent on
bringing up that child – and so it was. Every single Kroner.

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 II, Scene Eight 39

Manders Is that true, Engstrand?

Engstrand As God is my witness. I strove every day to be a
father to that child, for all my weakness. My girl, Regine.
And we had a happy life, together: her, me and Johanna,
God rest her soul.
A happy life . . . You know, I never thought I’d be here
telling this to you, Father. For if Jakob Engstrand’s done a
good deed in this world, he’s kept it to himself. Stayed
humble. Truth is: we’re all weak, Father. Conscience . . . it’s a
messy business.
Short pause.
Manders Jakob Engstrand. Give me your hand. Your
hand.
Engstrand Oh Lord, no.
Manders grasps Engstrand’s hand.
Manders I humbly ask for your forgiveness. With all my
heart. I’m sorry I misjudged you. If there was only
something I could do – something as a symbol of my sincere
regret.
Engstrand Would the Father do that?
Manders With the greatest of pleasure.
Engstrand Only there is something. An opportunity. I’m
thinking of setting up a kind of sailors’ home, in town.
Helene A sailors’ home?
Engstrand A refuge. For the wandering sailor. Temptations
are manifold for those boys, see, but there, in that house, I’ll
look after them. I’ll be like a father to them.
Manders (to Helene) Well? What do you say to that?
Engstrand I don’t have a great deal of funds for the
project, God knows, but if somehow there was a helping
hand . . .

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 40 Ghosts

Manders Yes, we must discuss this in detail, Engstrand. It’s

a fantastic idea. You go ahead and light the candles in the
children’s home. We’re all in the right frame of mind now
for evening prayers.
Engstrand We are, aren’t we. (Leaving.) Well, goodbye,
madam. Take good care of my Regine for me, won’t you?
(Returning.) Dear Johanna’s child . . . It’s like she’s in my
blood. (Pointing at his heart.) Here. It really is.
Engstrand’s gone.
Manders And you have nothing to say to that man,
Helene? He gave a quite a different explanation to yours,
didn’t he?
Helene He really did.
Manders You see how very careful one must be not to
judge another.
Such a joy to be proven wrong though, isn’t it?
Pause.
Helene You’re like a child.
Manders What? . . . Me?
Helene throws her arms around Manders, gripping
him tightly.
Manders (quietly, struggling with her) No. No.
Helene Don’t be scared of me.
Finally he pushes her off him. Helene falls to the floor.
Manders You’re so – impulsive. You have such an
exaggerated way of expressing yourself . . . So. I’ll take the
documents back with me . . . Please look after Osvald when
he’s back.
Manders is gone.

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 II, Scene Nine 41

Scene Nine
Osvald is here. He’s drinking.
Osvald Hello, mother.
Helene You’re here. I thought you’d gone out.
Osvald Just for a cigarette . . . It’s freezing out there . . .
You’ve been in here with Father Manders?
Helene He’s gone now. To the children’s home.
Osvald Hm.
Helene Don’t you want to come in here with me?
Osvald I’m not allowed to smoke.
Helene Well . . . Maybe just one.
Osvald Alright: I’ll join you. Where did the Father go?
Helene I told you. The children’s home.
Osvald Oh yeah. That’s right . . . You two not hungry?
Helene Did you eat?
Osvald I did. It was very cosy. Just me. Sitting at my
mother’s table, in my mother’s house, eating my mother’s
food.
Helene My baby boy . . .
Osvald Besides, what else is there to do? I can’t paint here.
Helene Why not?
Osvald It’s too dark. Look out the window. Not a single
ray of sunlight. I hate it when I can’t work.
Helene Maybe you shouldn’t have come back here.
Osvald Oh, but I had to, Mummy.
Helene Because I’d hate you to be unhappy. I’d give up
every second of my joy having you home if it meant that –

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 42 Ghosts

Osvald Tell me, mother. Are you really happy that

I’m here?
Helene Am I happy? How can you ask me that?
Osvald Isn’t it the same for you if I’m here or not?
Helene You have the heart to say that to your mother,
Osvald?
Osvald You seem to have managed very well here without
me. Most of my life, in fact.
Helene Yes . . . I’ve lived without you. That’s true.
Short pause.
Osvald Mummy. Can I come and sit with you?
Helene Of course. Sit down here, my baby boy.
Osvald There’s something I have to tell you.
Helene Of course.
Osvald Because . . . I can’t keep it secret any longer.
Helene What? What is it?
Osvald I couldn’t write it in a letter, and since I’ve been
here I’ve . . .
Helene Osvald, you can tell me.
Osvald Yesterday and today I just tried to push it out of
my mind – but I couldn’t.
Helene Tell me what’s happening, Osvald, please.
Osvald Sit down. And I’ll try . . . You know how I’ve been
so tired, from the train and the boat . . .
Helene Yes. What about it?
Osvald What’s wrong with me it’s not – not a normal kind
of tiredness.
Helene There’s nothing wrong with you, my baby.

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 II, Scene Nine 43

Osvald Sit down! Mummy . . . I’m not ill, not in a normal

sense of the word, I’m . . . Sick. I’m . . . broken. Inside. I’ll
never paint again.
Helene Osvald, no. Look at me. Look at me, baby, that’s
not true.
Osvald I’ll never work again. Never, never – like the
living dead.
Helene My unhappy boy. What’s happened to you?
Osvald I don’t know, I don’t know . . . Mummy, look at me,
believe me: I never lived a wild life out there.
Helene I know, baby, I know.
Osvald Then why is this happening to me?
Helene Nothing is happening to you, Osvald. You’re just
very tired. In a few days, in a week, you’ll feel much better.
Osvald No, I won’t.
Helene Why? Tell me, Osvald. Tell me what’s happening.
Osvald It started just after I was home last time. It started
when I got back to Paris. I began to get the most incredible
headaches. In the back of my skull. It was like an iron ring
being tightened around my neck – the pressure, the pain, in
my skull. At first I thought it was those migraines I got, as a
child.
Helene Yes.
Osvald But then it stopped me working. I wanted to paint
– I was inspired – but then it took over. I felt dizzy. I couldn’t
focus on anything – the canvas – even the room was
spinning. I could barely stand. It stole all my power, all my
– passion . . . I called the doctor to the apartment. And he
told me the truth.
Helene What?

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 44 Ghosts

Osvald He was a specialist. He knew. At first, he asked me

so many questions – things that seemed strange, irrelevant –
Helene But he found out what was wrong?
Osvald Yes he did. He said I had . . . I’ve got . . .
Helene What? . . . What?
Osvald That I’m . . . infected.
Helene . . .What does that mean?
Osvald He said infected from birth, mother. He said it’s
the sins of the father . . . The sins of the father visited on the
children.
Helene Oh.
Osvald Syphilis, Mummy.
Short pause.
I nearly knocked that bastard out. But I didn’t – I just told
him: ‘That can’t be true. That’s not true.’ He said the
symptoms were clear, the way it presented. And so I got all
your letters, I read him page after page about Daddy.
Helene And then?
Osvald Then he backed down. Said he’d got it wrong. Not
about the disease but the cause of . . . transmission. That the
way I’d been living . . . with my friends . . . My free life, my
happy – . . . It’s my fault. I’ve brought it all on myself . . .
Helene Please don’t think that, Osvald, please . . .
Osvald I must have got it like that. There’s no other way
he said. I was so reckless . . . I wish I had inherited it – that it
wasn’t my fault, that I hadn’t done this, but it was me. And
it’s incurable. And I can’t go back and change it. I’ve
wrecked it all: my health, my work, my life.
Helene No, no, my darling boy, it’s not what you think.

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 II, Scene Ten 45

Osvald And to cause you such pain, Mother. So many

times I wished you didn’t love me at all.
Helene You’re my boy. You’re all I possess in the whole
world. There’s no one else but you.
Osvald Yes I feel it. When I’m here with you, I feel it. But
now we have to stop talking, Mummy. I can’t think about it
for long. Can I have a drink?
Helene A drink? Of course. What would you like?
Osvald Anything.
Helene Careful, Osvald.
Osvald Don’t deny me, Mother. I need to drown these
thoughts. It’s so dark in here.
Helene (calling out) Regine.
Osvald This endless rain. Week after week after week.
Never the sun.
Helene You won’t go away from me again? Regine!
Osvald I don’t know. I can’t think. It’s better I don’t think
at all.
Regine is here.
Scene Ten
Regine You called, madam?
Helene It’s too dark in here.
Regine Yes, madam.
Helene Don’t turn away from me, Osvald, please. Regine,
get us a bottle of champagne.
Regine Yes, madam.
Osvald That’s it, Mummy. I knew you wouldn’t let me
go thirsty.

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 46 Ghosts

Helene How can I can deny you anything now?

Osvald Is that true? Do you mean that?
Helene What?
Osvald You won’t deny me anything?
Helene But, Osvald . . .
Osvald Shh. Shh, Mummy.
Regine (indicating the champagne) Shall I open it?
Osvald Yes.
Helene What do you mean, Osvald darling, when you say
I can’t deny you anything?
Osvald Let’s have a drink. Together.
Helene I won’t – thank you.
Osvald Yes you will.
What do you think of Regine, Mummy?
Helene What do you mean?
Osvald She’s incredible, isn’t she?
Helene Osvald . . . You don’t know her as well as I do.
Osvald So?
Helene Regine lived at home for too long, before I
brought her here.
Osvald But she’s so beautiful, Mother. Look at her.
Helene She is. She is but . . . she also . . . has her flaws.
Osvald Well, don’t we all.
Helene She . . . I’m very fond of her. I – love her. And I’m
responsible for her. I don’t want anyone to hurt her.
Osvald Mother, listen. I know now: Regine is the only who
can save me.

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 II, Scene Ten 47

Helene Why do you say that?

Osvald I can’t bear all this pain. Not on my own.
Helene You can share it with your mother.
Osvald That’s what I thought. That’s why I came. But it
won’t work. I have to get away from you. I don’t want you to
see this.
Helene A sick child needs their mother.
Osvald It’s not just the sickness, Mother. If it were only
that I’d stay with you. Because you’re my best friend. You’re
my best friend in the whole world.
Helene I am! I am, aren’t I?
Osvald But it’s everything thing else: the shame, the guilt
– and the fear – this fear that grips me.
Helene Fear? Fear of what?
Osvald I can’t describe it. I don’t want to talk about it.
Helene Champagne! That will make my poor boy happy.
Chase those rainy clouds away. (To Regine, who is pouring
another glass.) No, the whole bottle. (To Osvald.) You think we
don’t know how to live in the country? Come on!
Regine passes the bottle to Osvald, who presents her to his mother.
Osvald Isn’t she incredible? Huh? God: look at her. Look
at you! So . . . Healthy. Strong.
Helene Calm down, sweetness. Let’s just – talk about this.
Osvald You don’t know this, Mother, but . . . How do I say
this? I did something to Regine that I shouldn’t have.
Helene You –?
Osvald I’m being silly – o
­ ver-­the-­top. It’s all very innocent.
And anyway, now’s the time I make it right.
Helene What did you do?

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 48 Ghosts

Osvald The last time I was home, Regine was asking me all
the time about Paris – weren’t you? And I was telling her all
about it, and I just found myself saying: ‘Do you want to
come?’ To Paris. And she just went bright red.
Regine Sir . . .
Osvald Didn’t you? And she said: ‘I’d love that.’ And I just
said, ‘Yes, let’s do that’ – or something like that.
Helene And?
Osvald Of course I just forgot all about it. But when I got
back – day before yesterday – I asked her if she was happy
I’m home ’til Christmas, and you looked sort of hurt – or
sad. And then she said to me: ‘But what about my trip to
Paris?’ You see, she’d taken everything I’d said completely
seriously. Hadn’t you? She’s been thinking about me the
whole time I’ve been away. She’s even learning French –
aren’t you?
Helene I see.
Osvald And that’s when I saw it, Mother. This luscious,
glowing woman – full of life. (To Regine.) I’d never really
seen you before – then there you were, arms wide open,
ready to receive me.
Helene Osvald . . .
Osvald And I knew it: that she could save me. I see it in
her. The lifeforce.
Helene Lifeforce?
Osvald The joy of being alive. (To Regine.) Get another
glass.
Regine Madam’s glass is here.
Osvald One for yourself.
A moment: Regine looks at Helene.
Osvald Well?

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 II, Scene Ten 49

Regine Does madam wish . . .?

Helene Get the glass.
Regine fetches a third glass.
Osvald Look at her move! Such strength – confidence.
Helene This isn’t going to happen, Osvald.
Osvald It already has. There’s nothing you can say.
(Indicating Regine should sit with them.) Come here.
Helene What do you mean? The ‘joy of being alive’?
Osvald Joie de vivre, Mother. They don’t go in for it much
round here.
Helene But don’t you feel that joy with me?
Osvald I don’t feel it here. This country, this house. You.
Helene Don’t say that.
Osvald It’s everyone here. Life only makes sense if it’s
suffering. It’s a curse. A punishment for us sinners – all we
deserve.
Helene I know that’s how we live.
Osvald But out there, there’s something else. Bliss, joy.
Everything I paint comes from that joy. From light, from
Sunday afternoons, from laughter, from love. That’s why
I’m so scared of staying here with you.
Helene Please don’t be scared of me.
Osvald If I stay here I’m afraid the light inside me will
go out.
Helene Do you really believe that?
Osvald There’s too much darkness here, Mother.
Helene But now I can see.
Osvald See what?

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 50 Ghosts

Helene For the first time I can see it. And now I will speak.
Regine Perhaps I should leave?
Helene No, stay. (Gathering Osvald and Regine together.)
Now I will speak. I’ll tell you everything. Everything. And
then you can choose. (Kissing him.) Osvald. (Kissing her.)
Regine . . .
Father Manders is here.
Osvald (alerting her) Mother.
Scene Eleven
Manders Well, we’ve had a very special time down there.
Osvald We’ve had a special time up here.
Manders We must help Engstrand with his sailors’ home.
Regine must move to town and help him.
Regine I don’t want to. Thank you.
Manders (noticing her) You’re here? You’re drinking?
Regine Pardonnez moi.
Osvald Regine is coming back with me, Father.
Manders What? With you?
Osvald Yes, to Paris. As my wife. If she wants to.
Manders The Lord God please have mercy.
Regine It wasn’t my idea, Father.
Osvald Just as long as we’re together. If we stay here –
Regine Stay here?
Manders What have you done, Helene?
Helene You’re not going to Paris, you’re not staying here,
because now I can speak and now you must know.
Manders Wait! You’re not going to . . . You can’t.

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 III, Scene Eleven 51

Helene I can and I will. It’s not the truth that kills us.
Osvald Just say it, Mother! What are you hiding?
Regine Madam, listen! There’s people outside. Can you
hear them?
Osvald What’s happening? Where’s that light coming
from? On the water – in the sky.
Regine The children’s home’s on fire.
Helene On fire?!
Manders Impossible. That’s impossible. I’ve just come
from there.
Osvald (exiting) Father’s memory! Bring my coat!
Helene (to Regine) Get his coat. Get a hat. They’ll be
nothing left. Look.
Manders It’s punishment from God. He’s punishing this
house of sin.
Helene Yes.
Manders And you let me not insure it.

III
Helene Soon they’ll be nothing left.
Regine The roof ’s falling in.
Helene Why did Osvald go? There’s nothing he can do.
Regine I’ll go after him.
Helene No. Let me.
She goes to look for Osvald.
Manders This is the worst night of my life.

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 52 Ghosts

Regine I’m so sorry, Father.

Manders I can’t talk about it. I can’t think about it.
Regine How did it start?
Manders Don’t ask me. Your father . . .
Regine What about him? Was he there?
Manders He was, he . . . – I pray he got out in time.
Scene Twelve
Engstrand appears.
Engstrand Hello, Father.
Manders Engstrand. Thank God.
Engstrand I’m so sorry this is happening.
Manders Thank you.
Engstrand I’m so sorry this is happening to you.
Manders Thank you. To me?
Engstrand (to Regine) To think it was me that asked the
Father down there, my child. To lead a night of humble
prayer. How would I know what he’d do?
Manders I’d do?
Engstrand The Father was the only one who touched the
candles, see.
Manders Wait – no, I wasn’t.
Engstrand I saw it with my own eyes. How he snuffed one
out with the fingers, and chucked it on a pile of wood
shavings.
Manders Did I?
Engstrand Yes.
Manders You saw that?

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 III, Scene Twelve 53

Engstrand Yes.
Manders But I never put out candles with my fingers.
Engstrand I was surprised myself. Doesn’t that hurt? (To
Regine.) And of course he hadn’t insured it.
Manders Exactly. How do you know that?
Engstrand Not insured and then he sets it all on fire. It’s
tragic.
Manders Stop. Stop, Engstrand.
Engstrand The newspapers won’t be kind. Nor the council.
A charitable institution – for orphans – burnt to the ground.
(To Regine.) They might turn on him again.
Manders My God.
Engstrand Another scandal.
Manders Oh my God.
Helene (returning) I can’t see him.
Manders When they find out . . .
Helene I’m worried he’s trying to fight it.
Manders (to Helene) I need to talk to you.
Helene Well, you won’t have to make that speech
tomorrow now. It’s for the best. That children’s home
wouldn’t have done anyone any good.
Regine What about the children?
Helene It served its function. Now it’s gone. (To Manders.)
Are you getting the boat tonight?
Manders In an hour, but –
Helene Then take everything with you. Deeds, account
books, contracts. I don’t want to see them again.
Manders We need to discuss this.

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 54 Ghosts

Helene I’ll write to you. Make you executor.

Manders But the legacy will change completely.
Helene makes a dismissive gesture.
Manders Well, I could arrange it so the land goes to the
parish. That’s still worth a lot. And there’s the money in the
bank – and the interest. It must be put to good use – for the
benefit of the town. I could launch a new project.
Helene I don’t care.
Engstrand The good of the town? What about my sailors’
home, Father?
Manders We have to think carefully.
Engstrand Don’t think, Father. Act. Those poor boys at sea.
Manders You don’t understand. The fire. They’ll be an
inquest – attacks, accusations. I could lose my seat on the
council. I could lose my parish.
Engstrand Not if I have anything to do with it.
Manders What do you mean?
Engstrand Jakob Engstrand would never abandon a
generous patron in a time of need. Jakob Engstrand is a
guardian angel, watching over you. He takes the burdens
from the shoulders of others. I’ve done it before. Let me eat
the sin, Father.
Manders How?
Engstrand Perhaps I didn’t see you snuff that candle,
Father. Perhaps, it was me who snuffed the candle.
Manders But, Engstrand . . . you can’t . . .
Engstrand Father, I insist.
Manders Redemption . . . Engstrand – Jakob – your
sailors’ home will have everything it needs. I’ll see to that.

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 III, Scene Thirteen 55

Your goodness is a rare and precious thing . . . Let’s go.

Back to town – together.
Engstsrand Thank you, Father. (To Regine.) Come on girl.
Come on. Come home. Daddy’ll look after you.
Regine Non, merci.
Engstrand Well, if you change your mind, you know where
I am. In the house for wandering sailors I’ll call ‘Captain
Alving’s Home’. I’ll make sure that place, and all that goes
on inside, will be a fitting tribute to that man’s life. Au revoir.
Manders Come, dear Engstrand. And goodbye.
Manders and Engstrand leave. Osvald has already returned.
Scene Thirteen
Osvald moves with restless, nervous energy.
Osvald What is ‘Captain Alving’s Home’?
Helene A home for sailors he and the Father are building
Osvald It’ll burn down.
Helene What do you mean?
Osvald Just like that one did. They all burn down. Soon
they’ll be nothing left of Father. I’m on fire too.
Helene You shouldn’t have gone down there.
Osvald I wanted to save it.
Helene You’re sweating. (Touching him to check his
temperature.) You’re burning up. Let’s get you to bed.
Osvald No. I never sleep – I just lie there pretending. But
I’ll sleep soon enough.
Helene You have to rest.
Osvald pulls off his shirt.
Osvald It’s coming. The fear. Lock all the doors.

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 56 Ghosts

Regine Is Mr Alving ill?

Helene (embracing him) I’m here, my baby. Shh, shh.
I’m here.
Osvald Don’t leave me. Please. And Regine too. (To
Regine.) Promise you won’t leave me. Promise you’ll help
me, that you’ll . . . Help me out . . .
Regine I don’t understand what you –
Osvald To stop it hurting. When I need it.
Helene Osvald, your mother’s here. Mummy’s here
to help.
Osvald My mother?! No. A mother can’t help her son. Not
like that. (To Regine.) It has to be you. Come here, Regine.
(Reaching out to her.) Come here. Why do you always call me
sir? Why don’t you use my name?
Regine I don’t think Mrs Alving would like it.
Helene It’s alright. Come and sit with us. Come.
Osvald Come here.
Regine sits with Helene and Osvald. Mother and son
embrace her.
Helene Yes. You can call him Osvald very soon. Because
now . . . (To Osvald.) I’m going to take your pain away. I’m
going to set you free.
Osvald You?
Helene Set you free from your shame.
Osvald You can’t.
Helene When you talked about the joy of life – of living – I
suddenly saw everything in my life so clearly.
She stands. Osvald and Regine remain entwined.
Osvald What did you see?

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 III, Scene Thirteen 57

Helene I wish you’d known your father when he was

young – your age. He was so full of energy – of light. But
then this beautiful child – because he was a child – got stuck,
here, in this town, with these people, and their judgements
and their shame. You said yourself what would happen if
you stayed here.
Osvald What do you mean?
Helene And it was my fault too. I tried to be a good wife – I
did – but I was so unhappy. I made it unbearable here. He had
so much joy in him and there was nowhere for it to go. And so
it . . . It went where it shouldn’t. Into alcohol. Into other
women. Into doing – what he did. Osvald, your father was a
sick man. He was . . . broken. Long before you were born.
Osvald But what you wrote to me. Your letters . . .?
Helene I thought that loving him would bring you joy.
Instead it brought you pain. But now you know the truth
about him. And that it’s not your fault. (To Regine.) You too,
Regine. It’s not your fault. Not you, his son. And not you, his
daughter.
Pause.
There. So now you know.
Short pause.
It’s alright.
Regine pulls away from Osvald.
Helene It’s alright.
Regine So . . . my mother . . . That’s what happened to my
mother . . .
Helene Your mother was . . . a good woman, Regine –
she tried.
Regine Mrs Alving, I’d like to be excused. With your
permission, I want to leave now, please.

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 58 Ghosts

Helene If you’re sure that’s what you want?

Regine It’s what I want.
Helene Then you should go.
Osvald Go? No, you belong here. With us. This is your
home. We are your family. Yes? . . . Yes? . . . Yes?
Regine Yes. (Embracing him.) Yes. Merci, Monsieur Alving . . .
I can call you Osvald now.
She starts to pull away from Osvald.
Regine But not the way I wanted. This is not what I
wanted.
Osvald won’t let go of Regine.
Helene (to Regine) I know I haven’t been straight with you.
Regine (struggling with Osvald) No. No. (To Helene.) He’s
ill. He’s sick. (To Osvald.) And we can’t. We can’t.
She pulls away from Osvald. He continues to reach for her.
I can’t stay. I can’t stay here.
Osvald Not even for your brother?
Regine I can’t stay here with the sick.
Osvald But I’m your blood.
Regine I have to live. Everything’s disgusting here.
Everything is death. (To Helene.) Madam – Hel – . . .
Madam. I can’t stay here. I can’t. I’m still young. People
– men – they – like me.
Helene Of course. Of course.
Regine And I still have that joy.
Helene Don’t waste yourself, Regine.
Regine I have to live.
Helene We’ll find you a man. A man will take you.

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 III, Scene Thirteen 59

Regine Does the Father know? Does the Father know

about me?
Helene He . . . does. He does.
Regine Right. Right . . . The boat’s not left. Father
Manders will look after me. And that money he’s giving out
– I’ve as much right to it as that filthy old carpenter.
Helene You have. You deserve it. And Engstrand owes you
money too. It’s your inheritance, Regine. Your birthright.
Regine slowly pulls away from Helene.
Regine But you . . . You could have brought me up as
family. Here. I could have been a Captain’s daughter. I could
have been so much – but you . . .
She picks up a bottle of champagne.
It doesn’t matter. Now I’ll drink my champagne. Cheers.
She drinks.
Here’s to sir and madam.
She drinks.
(To Helene.) Cheers. Cheers!
Helene Cheers. I need a glass . . .
Regine No just drink it. Drink it. I’m not your maid.
Helene Oh. I . . .
Regine I said drink it.
Regine pours champagne on Helene.
Drink it. Drink it. There.
Pause.
Father Manders will look after me. And if that goes wrong,
there’s somewhere else that I can go.
Helene Where?

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 60 Ghosts

Regine ‘Captain Alving’s Sailors’ Home’.

Helene No. No, you can’t Regine.
Regine Yes I can. Why not?
Helene Because –. Listen to me: you’ll get sick there,
you’ll die.
Regine Maybe . . . But maybe not. Adieu ‘Helene’.
She is leaving.
(To Osvald.) Au revoir.
She’s gone.
Scene Fourteen
Osvald Has she gone?
Helene Come here, my baby boy. You must be in shock.
Osvald Why?
Helene About Regine. About your father. I’m scared it’s all
too much for you.
Osvald No. It’s a surprise. Nothing more.
Helene But – it changes who you thought he was.
Osvald What difference does that make to me?
Helene Because – it changes who you think you are.
Osvald Does it? I feel sorry for him. That he was so
unhappy here. – Like I’d feel sorry for anyone.
Helene He’s not anyone, he’s your father.
Osvald Oh yes father. Father. Dad. All I have is one
memory of him. He made me smoke, he made me sick.
Helene But you loved him. He’s your family – he’s your
blood.

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 III, Scene Fourteen 61

Osvald I didn’t know him, so I didn’t love him. That’s the

truth. It’s nothing to do with blood.
Helene Do you love me?
Osvald I know you, that’s different.
Helene You know me. That’s all?
Osvald I know how much you think of me. And I’m
grateful for that.
Helene is winded by his words.
Osvald And I’m grateful for what you’re going to do now.
Now that I’m sick.
Helene I could kiss your sickness, Osvald. It brought you
home to me. And if you don’t love me now, I’ll earn it. I’ll do
anything, anything for you.
Osvald You have to take away my fear. Promise me you’ll
do that.
Helene Yes.
Osvald Regine: she would have done it.
Helene I’ll do it. I’ll take away your fear.
Osvald Do you promise?
Helene The dawn’s coming. It’s starting to get light. See?
Soon you’ll see the sun, Osvald. And feel it on your skin.
Osvald I want the sun.
Helene Yes.
Osvald I want to live.
Helene You will!
Osvald I want that so much, Mummy.
Helene You will. And you’ll paint again. I know you will.
You’re free now – from your guilt, your shame.

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 62 Ghosts

Osvald Yes, yes. You took it all away.

Helene I did, didn’t I?
Osvald There’s one thing left for you to do.
Helene Tell me.
Osvald I’ll tell you, as the sun comes up. And then you’ll
know – and I won’t be scared anymore.
Helene What will I know?
Osvald You said you’d do anything.
Helene Yes.
Osvald You promised.
Helene You’re all I live for.
Osvald Because you’ll have to be strong. Strong for me.
Helene Just tell me!
Osvald Stop. Listen. No crying, no hysterics. Understand?
Helene I understand.
Osvald My disease . . . the headaches, the fatigue, that’s
not the end of it. No. It ends here. (He points at his forehead.)
It takes root, and lies in wait, until it strikes.
Helene You mustn’t say that, Osvald. The stress will –
Osvald Listen to me! . . . There’s no way out of this.
They’re coming: the seizures. As the lesions spread on the
brain . . . They soften it. They open it. Can you see it? Like
cutting through soft velvet. Cherry red velvet . . . Parting.
Helene You don’t know that it’s spread there.
Osvald I had my first attack in Paris. Blacked out,
completely. For hours. And when it passed that’s when the
fear began. The not knowing – when it’ll strike again – how
long I’ve got. I wish that I just had cancer. I could handle
that. I’m not afraid to die.

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 III, Scene Fourteen 63

Helene Don’t say that.

Osvald And it’s so degrading. Incapacitation. Can’t feed
myself, can’t – clean myself. Like a baby.
Helene My baby. With his mother to care for him.
Osvald No. Never. That’s exactly what I don’t want.
Understand? Trapped inside my body – for years – my hair
still growing turning white – body wrinkling – withering
away.
Helene I’ll be here for you.
Osvald Not if you die first.
Helene Osvald!
Osvald You took Regine away from me. She would have
helped me.
Helene I can help you.
Osvald holds up a small metal box.
Helene What’s that?
Osvald The doctor gave it to me. I made him.
Helene What is it?
Osvald Morphine powder.
Helene Osvald, my sweet boy.
Osvald Twelve capsules. But four should be enough.
Helene Give that to me.
Osvald Not yet.
Helene You’re killing me too.
Osvald No: you must be strong. Regine would have done
it. She wouldn’t let me lie there.
Helene She ran away.

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 64 Ghosts

Osvald Disgusting – in my own filth – gurgling, dribbling.

Helene Thank God she’s not here.
Osvald Now you must do it, Mummy.
Helene Me?
Osvald You’re all I have left.
Helene I gave you life. I gave birth to you.
Osvald I didn’t ask you to. I don’t want my life. Take it
back. Take it back.
Helene (running from Osvald and calling out) Help.
Help me. Somebody.
Osvald Stop trying to leave me.
Helene I have to get a doctor.
Osvald No one’s getting out and no one’s getting in.
Helene My baby, please.
Osvald Is this what you call a mother’s love? Leaving me in
terror every day? Mummy. Mummy please.
Pause.
Helene Here. Here’s my hand.
Osvald You’ll do it?
Helene If I have to.
Osvald Thank you.
Helene It won’t come to that.
Osvald Yes. Thank you, thank you. Let’s be together. Live
as long as we can. You and me.
Helene Yes. Yes. Do you feel better now? More calm?
Osvald nods. He’s in her arms.

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 III, Scene Fourteen 65

Helene I know it’s been so hard for you. And I think

you’ve made this up. You’ve imagined all of this, to try to
cope with everything. To make sense of the pain. But you’re
home now. With Mummy. And you can rest. I’ll do
everything for you here. Just say the word – just point at
something – like when you were little. Just point and it’s
yours. Mummy’s here. Mummy’s got you. No more fear.
And no more pain. The sun’s coming up. Can you see it?
Can you see the sun?
Osvald (quietly) I want the sun.
Helene What, my baby?
Osvald Give me the sun.
Helene Osvald . . .?
Osvald (weakly, almost lifeless) The sun . . . The sun . . .
Helene (panicked) Osvald. Osvald!
Osvald The sun.
Helene Osvald, look at me. Come back to me. Talk to me.
Osvald The sun.
Helene Osvald. No.
Looking for the box of morphine capsules.
Where are they? Where are they?
She finds the metal box.
Osvald (virtually inaudible) The sun . . . The sun . . .
Helene holds the box in front of her.
Helene No. Never! . . . Yes . . . No . . . Yes . . .
The end.

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This ebook belongs to Collin James (collinjwallman@gmail.com), purchased on 07/01/2024
This ebook belongs to Collin James (collinjwallman@gmail.com), purchased on 07/01/2024
This ebook belongs to Collin James (collinjwallman@gmail.com), purchased on 07/01/2024