When We Dead Awaken

Sculptor Arnold Rubek and his wife Maia have just enjoyed breakfast and are reading newspapers and drinking champagne.

During their encounter, a mysterious woman dressed in white passes by, followed closely by a nun in black.

Spotting the Rubeks, he introduces himself and mocks their plans to take a cruise, insisting that the water is too contaminated by other people.

Maia takes Ulfheim up on his offer to watch his dogs eat breakfast, leaving Arnold alone with the mysterious woman.

During their conversation, she explains that posing for Arnold was akin to a kind of 'self murder', where he captured her soul and put it into his masterpiece, a sculpture called Resurrection.

The pair cast flower petals into the brook and reminisce sentimentally about their long-ago collaboration.

At one point, Arnold refers to their 'episode', and Irena draws her knife, preparing to stab him in the back.

Arnold asks Irena to come live with him and work with him again, explaining that she can unlock his artistic vision once more.

The final act takes place on the rocky mountainside, with narrow paths and a shabby hunting hut.

However, Arnold points out that they are both still free, insisting that "we two dead things live life for once to the full".

Some authors argue that the dark romance in the play is based on Auguste Rodin's relationship with his student, co-worker, and lover Camille Claudel.

[3][4][5] Ibsen originally named the play The Resurrection Day, after Arnold Rubek's sculpture.

Newly returned to Norway, after twenty-seven years abroad, he was thrilled to be back home.

[8] The hotel manager initially had a name, Brager, and in the original, he is an Inspector, which also means 'overseer' in Norwegian.

Ibsen felt similarly, wishing that he had continued writing poetry after Peer Gynt.

The author was the basis for A Doll's House, and she resented Ibsen using her life in his work, just as Irena feels violated by Rubek.

Ulfheim has a bottle of champagne atop the mountain, and all four characters drink a toast to freedom.

When Ulfheim and Maia descend, Irena comments that "She has awakened from life's deep, heavy sleep".

Three audio productions were broadcast on BBC Radio 3: A television adaptation using the Meyer translation was broadcast on 12 February 1970 on BBC Two with Alexander Knox as Rubek, Wendy Hiller as Irene, Irene Hamilton as Maja and Brian Cox as Ulfhejm.