programme
- Museum number
- EPH-ME.551
- Description
-
Programme; produced to accompany the first performance in England of the play by Henrik Ibsen on the life and death of Julian (the Apostate) entitled "Emperor and Galilean".
- Production date
- June 2011
- Dimensions
-
Height: 24 centimetres
-
Width: 14 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- This play was written by Ibsen between July 1871 and May 1873 but was only first performed in England at the National Theatre in June 2011. This production was directed by Jonathan Kent, had a cast of fifty with the role of Julian played by Andrew Scott. The text was adapted and considerably shortened by Ben Power from the nine and a half hour original to three and half hours. The setting was dramatic and modern and included scenes of 21st century warfare and desert camouflage uniforms in the scenes referring to Julian's ill-fated Mesopotamian campaign when he marched into what is now central Iraq but failed to take either the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon or its twin city of Veh Ardashir, literally burnt his boats and was forced to retreat via a different route. He was killed in a skirmish close to the later city-site of Samarra.
Reviews of the present production include Michael Billington, 'The Guardian', 15 June; Ian Shuttleworth, 'The Financial Times', 16 June; Patrick Marmion in 'The Daily Mail', 16 June; Charles Spencer, 'The Daily Telegraph', 16 June; Paul Taylor in 'The Independent', 17 June 2011.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Fair
- Associated events
- Designed for: Theatre production (June 2011)
- Acquisition date
- 2011
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased at the preview night, 14 June 2011
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- EPH-ME.551