A play in five acts by Henrik Ibsen, published in Norwegian as Fruen fra havet in 1888 and first performed in early 1889.

In the first of several mystical psychological dramas by Ibsen, the play traces the increasing distraction of Ellida Wangel, the second wife of Dr. Wangel. She is obsessed with images of the sea because she once loved a sailor who promised to someday claim her. When the sailor does arrive, her husband releases her from her wedding vows. This act restores her equilibrium and breaks the sailor's spell over her.

The Lady From The Sea (1888) marked a turning-point in Ibsen's writing career as it, and the plays that followed it, concerned itself more with individual destinies than with general moral or social principles. A new translation by Pam Gems, the author of Stanley, Piaf and The Snow Palace.

Photos by Steve Beeston Photography