KATHMANDU: It was a gathering of Nepali litterateurs, artists, poets and theatre personalities at the residence of Tore Toreng, Norwegian ambassador to Nepal. The reason for this March 18 get-together was to kick off celebrations for the 100th death anniversary of one of Norway’s famous playwrights, Henrik Ibsen.

Welcoming his guests Ambassador Toreng said, “It is not that we are celebrating a death. This is to show how proud we are of Ibsen.”

The day’s programme was divided into two halves — screening of a documentary on Ibsen followed by a performance by two prominent theatre personalities comprising the ‘inspiration’ or ‘input’ half, and in the later half of the afternoon the painters, poets and sculptors, writers who had gathered would produce their own creations based on what they gleaned from the film and the performance.

The documentary Sphinx - Who are you? (50 mins) explored the split personality of Ibsen, who is also considered the Father of Modern Theatre. It traced his life as the son of an affluent father who had to fend for himself when the family lost all the wealth, apprentice to an apothecary, women in his life, illegitimate son, his wife, struggles as a young playwright, glimpse of St Peter’s Basillica, his first successful play...

The screening was followed by a performance by Arohan Theatre’s Sunil and Nisha Sharma Pokharel. They enacted a scene from Ibsen’s famous feminist play The Doll’s House, followed by readings in Nepali from two other plays — Hedda Gabler and The Master Builder.

Though the performances were just snippets of what Ibsen’s plays are about, nonetheless they were chosen with care with consideration given to the man-woman relationship that the playwright had explored in many of his plays.

Then in the afternoon, the poets and artists got down to business to create their own interpretations of what Ibsen meant to them based on the earlier activities. This is not all; whatever was produced by the artists and the poets this sunny afternoon will be exhibited at the Birendra International Convention Centre on May 23.