The Wild Duck
The first plans for The Wild Duck originated in the winter of 1882/83. However, the first draft of the play was not begun until April 20th 1884. A number of notes dating from various stages in the creative process have been preserved. In one of these Ibsen writes:
"The metaphor of the wild duck: when they are wounded they sink straight to the bottom, the stubborn devils, and hold on with their beaks –; but if you have a good dog, and the water is shallow, then –
Hedvig as a wild duck –
Gregers' experiences of children's first, deepest pain. Not the sorrows of love; no, family pain, – what is painful in home situations –
"The metaphor of the wild duck" must refer go Welhaven's poem "The Sea Bird"; an important source of inspiration for the play.
On April 20th 1884 Ibsen started on the first act in the first draft of The Wild Duck. He spent eight days on this act. The second act was started on May 2nd, but broken off midway. The first and second acts were then rewritten up to May 24th. The third and fourth acts were written in the period between May 25th and June 8th, while the fifth act was done between the 9th and 13th of June. The next day Ibsen wrote to his Danish publisher Frederik Hegel:
"I now have the pleasure of informing you that I completed the draft of my new play yesterday. The play is in five acts and as far as I can see will consist of about 200 printed pages, or possibly a little more. So now the fair copy remains to be done, and I shall start on that tomorrow. As usual, however, this will not be a mere copy of the draft, but rather a re-writing of the dialogue. So this will take some time; but I take it for granted that as long as nothing unforeseen happens, the complete manuscript should be in your hands by the middle of September. This play does not deal with political or social or public issues at all. It has entirely to do with family life. It will doubtless cause some discussion, but it will not offend anyone. "
At the end of June Ibsen left Rome for Gossensass. He spent the next four months there, mostly alone, while Suzannah and Sigurd were staying in Norway. He started the work of writing the fair copy several times – at least three – but in the course of July the first, second and third acts were ready in their final version. The fourth act was finished on August 17th, and the fifth and last act on August 30th.
On September 2nd 1884 he sent the fair copy of the manuscript to Hegel, writing:
"With this letter I am enclosing the manuscript of my new play «The Wild Duck», which has occupied me for the past four months, so that I shall miss it to some extent after having to part with it. In spite of their many weaknesses, the characters in this play have become dear to me after having to do with them daily for such a long time; but I hope they will also find good, kind friends, among the large reading public and not least among the acting community in that they all, without exception, offer rewarding tasks."
First edition
The Wild Duck came out on November 11th 1884 at Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Søn) in Copenhagen and Christiania in an edition of 8 000 copies. Both reviewers and readers were rather puzzled by the play, and Henrik Jæger's comment was to the point:
"The public do not know what to make of it, and are made no wiser by the criticism, as one paper says one thing and another something else".
Ibsen was prepared for this, to a great extent. In the letter to Hegel quoted above, dated September 2nd 1884, he writes:
"In some ways this new play has a place of its own in my dramatic production; the method differs in various respects from my earlier method, but I will not go into this in more detail. The critics will find these differences, I hope; at any rate they will find a great deal to argue about, and a great deal to interpret."
It is said that The Wild Duck introduces the symbolic phase in Ibsen's writing, and it was mainly the use of symbols in the play that seemed strange and confusing to its readers.
In spite of this the play sold very well. A second edition of 2 000 copies was printed and already published on December 1st 1884.
First performance
The play had its first performance on January 9th 1885 at Den nationale Scene in Bergen. The production was a success, largely owing to its director, Gunnar Heiberg.
Two days later the play had its first night at Christiania Theater. During the month of January it was also produced at Svenska (Swedish) Teatern in Helsingfors (January 16th), in Aalborg (January 25th) and at Dramaten in Stockholm (January 30th).
By Jens-Morten Hanssen / ibsen.net