In 1879, Henrik Ibsen shocked his home country of Norway, and much of the theatrical world, by writing “A Doll’s House,” in which a desperately unhappy married woman ends the play by leaving her husband and children — a strongly feminist statement in an era not favorable to women’s rights. The firestorm of criticism even forced Ibsen to write an alternate ending to get “Doll’s House” staged.

Partly because of that reaction, which was especially vehement from the clergy, Ibsen followed two years later with “Ghosts,” in which an unhappily married woman flees her home, then — at the urging of her pastor — returns to her husband, resulting in a lifetime of grief. And Ibsen really brought down the hammer. That pastor is a truly despicable person, self-righteous, judgmental, hypocritical and, in the end, corrupt.

The character’s blatantly sexist statements evoked laughter from some of the young women at opening night of the North Coast Rep’s new production of “Ghosts.” But anyone paying attention these days knows that such views remain all-too-common, if not always stated so explicitly.

Richard Baird, Rosina Reynolds.

^{Photo by Aaron Rumley}

NCR’s offering, directed by David Ellenstein, boasts a superlative cast and a fresh script by Anne-Charlotte Harvey. In a program note, she calls it a “platform” translation, meaning that the actors contributed by working with Harvey and assistant dramaturg Joan Hurwit to give their characters distinctive dialog. The result is folksy, conversational and occasionally profane. One nitpick: The money throughout is cited in kroners, so it’s doubtful a character would say he accounted for every “penny.”

Rosina Reynolds, one of our town’s theatrical treasures, anchors the cast as Helene Alving, the widow struggling to understand why society’s idea of righteousness has forced her to spend most of her years living a lie and left her bitter and unhappy. When Pastor Manders, her onetime spiritual advisor, refers to life as a “vale of tears,” she cynically replies, “We work hard to make it that way.” She also capsulates the play’s theme when she says that ghosts are ideas and beliefs that linger after they’re dead.

John Herzog, as the supremely priggish Manders, overcame some first-act line stumbles to embody a hiss-worthy villain, a man certain of his beliefs but able to adjust them when events jeopardize his position. Herzog, or Ellenstein, made the wise choice to have Manders maintain the prim hands-behind-back posture symbolizing his unbending attitude toward anything unconventional, like the secular books (“Madame Bovary,” “The Subjection of Women”) Mrs. Alving is reading.

Richard Baird, so good at essaying standout roles (like Caliban in the recent NCR-MiraCosta College production of “The Tempest”) here creates the subdued Osvald, Mrs. Alving's pallid son whose mind is being ravaged by the late stages of syphilis (even though it’s unnamed in the play, its depiction spurred more fury among Ibsen’s critics). Baird and Reynolds are splendid and heartbreaking in the climactic scene, when Osvald learns the truth about his dissolute father.

Jonathan McMurtry and Aimee Burdette provide solid support as local carpenter Engstrand and the Alvings’ servant girl whom Engstrand considers his daughter because he had hastily married her late mother, even knowing that she had been impregnated by another man.

Matt Novotny’s effective lighting takes Marty Burnett’s tidy drawing-room set — supplemented with Annie Bornhurst’s props — from rainy afternoon through flame-interrupted night to a sunrise not at all symbolic of a brighter day. Likewise the chirping birds in Chris Luessmann’s subtle sound design. Jennifer Brawn Gittings’ costumes nicely fit — in either meaning — their characters.

On April 26, the Stone Soup Theatre production of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” (also with a new translation by Harvey) will open at the North Coast on normal off-nights, allowing audiences to contrast and compare two strong-female, Victorian-era classics by Scandinavian writers.

Cast and credits