Ghosts Podcast Notes by Chisom Nwosu

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:02:44 UTC

Jacob Engstrand called Regina a bitch which was not used in the script

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:03:29 UTC

The see-through background allows the audience a chance to see the other rooms in the house because it is a stage play not a movie from

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:04:30 UTC

The picture of Captain Alving

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:05:20 UTC

Pastor being cold to Regina especially when they were discussing about Regina helping her father

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:06:18 UTC

The play tell us the kind of book Mrs. Alving reads in the script it doesn’t let us know

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:07:52 UTC

Mrs. Alving “ …we should discuss the orphanage and not my opinions”

15:05: Pastor Manders “ But discretion, yes?”
Mrs. Alving's face reaction
discretion meaning individual choice or judgement

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:08:30 UTC

They added Ms. Alving having a will

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:09:10 UTC

Pastor Manders didn’t want the building to be insured because of him being just by people outside saying that they didn’t believe God can protect the building, which made Mrs. Alving angry, which lead her to not get the building insured

They funning thing is that Pastor Manders said that if anything happened to the building she will have to pay for it

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:09:52 UTC

Ms. Alving tells Oswald to put the pipe down because Pastor Manders says he looks like his father and Mrs. Alving gets disappointed saying he looks like her than his father

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:10:29 UTC

Mrs. Alving was 19 when she got married, she came to Pastor Manders when he was a divinity student he wasn’t a priest at that time and Mrs. Alving was in love with Pastor Manders at that time

Mrs. Alving went to get comfort from Pastor Manders because she wanted him as a man she loved to understand and comfort her

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:11:03 UTC

Mrs. Alving still wearing her wedding ring

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:11:59 UTC

Mrs Alving looked broken as Pastor Manders hammers insults about her as a wife and her as a mother and while trying to explain to Pastor Manders the truth

You can see the hurt in her voice and in her eyes
Pastor Manders trying to make excuses for Captain Alving despite being a priest

the low suspension of music

The Dialog Article Says on the Stage set up

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-12 02:42:17 UTC

"The first moments of the play allow you to drink in Tim Hatley’s superb design, a crucial part of the play that brings the eerie tone to life . Downstage is a living room with velvet olive-green chairs and a green wooden desk. The wood panelled floor is black, as are the walls, reflecting the slightly ominous feeling in the play. In the middle of the stage is a fake wall, through which you can just make out the dining room upstage."

"The wall makes the dining room appear distorted and disjointed – very ghost-like. The set creates the sense of a real house with depth and memory, yet the wall also creates a feeling of barrier and secrecy; thus, the tone of the play is established instantly and effectively. The entire set is magically mesmerizing."

2024-12-12 02:44:46 UTC

An intense full music would’ve add more spice in the play

2024-12-12 02:47:05 UTC

Oswald’s illness (often interpreted as syphilis) represents more than a physical inheritance; it’s a symbolic “ghost” of his father’s immoral behavior.

2024-12-12 02:48:03 UTC

Mrs. Alving challenges traditional gender roles by questioning societal and religious norms

2024-12-12 02:48:03 UTC

Mrs Alving defies her pastor, admits to her intellectual curiosity (reading forbidden books), and tries to free herself from the constraints of her late husband’s legacy.

2024-12-12 02:50:17 UTC

Pastor Manders represents the church and societal morality, but his actions reveal deep hypocrisy. He avoids responsibility, judges Mrs. Alving’s decisions, and prioritizes appearances over truth and justice

2024-12-12 02:51:10 UTC

The marriage of Mrs. Alving and Captain Alving is portrayed as a facade, maintained for societal approval despite its toxicity.

2024-12-12 02:51:36 UTC

Mrs. Alving’s struggle to break free from her late husband’s shadow and societal expectations critiques the limited agency women had in 19th-century society

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-13 02:30:03 UTC

Mrs. Alving her wedding ring, which was never mentioned in the script

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-13 02:31:16 UTC

Ms. Alving smoking

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-13 02:33:33 UTC

Pastor Manders was involved with Mrs. Alving when they were younger, but he let his pride get the best of him, caring about what people would think of him instead of living his truth

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-13 02:35:49 UTC

The actor who played Jacob Engstrand didn't really show that Jacob had a limp in my opinion.

I feel like if they did, it would have added more emotion to the characters

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-13 02:37:45 UTC

Mrs. Alving hugged Pastor Manders and tried to kiss him, but he rejected her, which left her heart broken, because she still have lingering love for him. I thin he does but he is letting his pride, and the thought of what people will say about them not allow him to show the emotion back

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-13 02:38:53 UTC

Mrs. Alving not listen to what her son and is saying and letting important things he was trying to say go through one hear out the other which was making him frustrated

Parents act this way sometimes which makes it hard for there kids to come to them and talk and be open about issues they go through (connection)

nchisom2005 — 2024-12-13 03:52:53 UTC

Mrs. Alving wearing black maybe because she is still morning the death of Captain Alving( I highly doubt it she was happy he was death, especially when the orphanage burned down, she didn’t really care when it burned dow )

2024-12-14 09:16:34 UTC

Oswald’s props, like his painting tools, represent his creative aspirations and a stark contrast to the suffocating world he has returned to. They also symbolize his fleeting connection to beauty and freedom before his illness overtakes him.

2024-12-14 09:16:43 UTC

2024-12-14 09:16:58 UTC

The morphine Oswald asks for at the end of the play is a chilling prop that symbolizes despair, euthanasia, and the ultimate consequences of inherited “ghosts.” It underscores the play’s moral and emotional weight.

2024-12-14 09:17:31 UTC

The play is set entirely in the living room of Mrs. Alving’s home, symbolizing confinement and the characters’ inability to escape their past. The static location mirrors the trapped, oppressive atmosphere of the narrative

2024-12-14 09:20:01 UTC

In the script, the reader must infer the relationships between characters from dialogue.

2024-12-14 09:20:54 UTC

The script’s exposition, particularly Mrs. Alving’s revelations about her late husband, is delivered through dialogue rather than flashbacks or added scenes.

2024-12-14 09:21:11 UTC

While some productions highlight Oswald’s physical decline through acting, they do not add graphic depictions of his illness or the syphilis diagnosis, as Ibsen left it ambiguous and open to interpretation.

2024-12-14 09:22:30 UTC

Today, Ghosts is celebrated as a groundbreaking work of realism and a powerful critique of societal hypocrisy

2024-12-14 09:22:58 UTC

Feminist critics have highlighted Mrs. Alving as a proto-feminist figure who challenges patriarchal norms and wrestles with her constrained role as a woman and mother.

2024-12-14 11:35:54 UTC

When Ms. Alving hugged Pastor Manders and he looked back and Capt. Alving's picture was visible like it was a ghost watching them.

2024-12-14 11:37:19 UTC

The stage looked small and the darkness around made you focus on the characters.

2024-12-14 11:38:48 UTC

The dining room was translucent. This where Ms. Alvin heard her husband and Regina's mom flirting and the characters looked like ghosts walking around back there.

2024-12-14 11:39:48 UTC

A difference that I noticed is that they didn't have acts and scenes so the play felt quick and kept your interest with no breaks.

2024-12-14 11:44:08 UTC

The characters used modern language. An example was Oswald used "making love" and "made me puke". This helps the audience follow better with still feeling like they were in the 1800's with the wardrobe.

2024-12-14 11:57:19 UTC

At the end when Oswald was letting his mother know he had a disease he was going to grab his private to let her know it was a sexual disease passed on from his dad. In the play they said the disease name, syphilis.

2024-12-14 12:12:54 UTC

The stage was dark but there was lights from the chandeliers or table candle that I think represents ghosts.

2024-12-14 13:20:56 UTC

"But otherwise, Erye's production grabs you by the throat and never releases its grip". I agree with this because it was intensity from beginning to end. There were not breaks so it built momentum and never stopped.

2024-12-14 13:29:32 UTC

"There are also fine comic touches in the performances of Brian McCardie as the disreputable builder, Engstrand, who ruthlessly exploits the Pastor’s almost criminal gullibility." In reading the play you couldn't find the humor in these topics but seeing it in Erye's play you saw how blatantly Engstrand was manipulating and how pastor was so gullible that it was laughable.

2024-12-14 13:35:12 UTC

"You realize, with a visceral jolt, that what unsettled this work’s early audiences weren’t just the play’s explicit references to unsavory matters like venereal disease."

Ghosts forced its audience to confront uncomfortable truths about themselves and society, and in doing so, it created a profound sense of unease.

Pastor Manders:

2024-12-14 14:48:04 UTC

He is judgemental over Mrs.Alvings decisions and shows hypocrisy. He often criticizes others choices.

Oswald Alving

2024-12-14 14:50:07 UTC

Mrs. Alvings sun who is an artist returning from Paris. He embodies a tragic figure because he has inherited syphilis from his father. He suffers greatly throughout the play.

The symbolic items

2024-12-14 15:00:05 UTC

Objects like the book and newspaper in the living room and the table signify the era’s progressive ideas, contrasting with the characters feelings and conservative mindsets.

The candles

2024-12-14 15:00:33 UTC

The presence of candles foreshadows the orphanage fire. Symbolizing the disaster of truth being unfolded

Script vs play

2024-12-14 15:07:55 UTC

Some of the dialogues were trimmed in other to put focus on specific important conversations and characters emotions

Set and lighting

2024-12-14 15:09:17 UTC

the film features translucent walls dark lighting in order to bring out the meaning of “ghosts” which created a haunting atmosphere of the past coming back to haunt the characters.