Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage was ground-breaking when it aired as a television mini-series in the 70s; taking realism to the point of documentary, Bergman used the disintegration of his own marriage and observations of his parent’s marriage to painfully play out the consequences of chemistry gone wrong. Essentially, it is a love story which examines the emotional causes and effects of feeling desires that are incompatible within the modern world
Marianne (Stein Stengade) and Johan (Morten Kirkskov) have it all. Successful professional careers, a lovely home (even a weekender) and two children. They are THAT glittering couple. Behind closed walls however, they struggle with their sex life and expectations of their structured existence. Marianne begins an affair and sets in motion a disintegration which can only end in divorce and shattered lives. Director Thomas Bendixon has effectively gender swapped the roles from the original, where Johan had the affair, adding a more contemporary twist. He has also incorporated an early visit to the theatre where the couple, ironically, attend a production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. It is Johan who falls in love with Nora’s lines but it is Marianne who follows through.
Beautifully assisted by set and lighting design, the simplistic set is very Scandinavian but the hero has to be Marten K. Axelsson’s lighting. It tells a whole sub-story, creating not just mood but textures, layers of meaning and powerful emotional moments where shadows speak the truth when characters refuse to verbalise it. Like chapters in a book, the title of each scene is projected, providing an effective means of transitioning through time and place. It assists our sense of the pace of the relationship disintegration, slow and remorseless.
Of course, to sit through two hours of a couple shredding each other would make an audience as miserable as the play’s characters but there are moments of dark humour which are genuinely humorous and which feed our recognition of the old adage that comedy is, after all, just tragedy with timing. Act 1 tends to barrel along and there are lost moments. Here the direction is a little lacklustre; the staging is pedestrian the potential moments are lost in what become a one-note, same-paced delivery. The couple rip through 
the dialogue without pause or reflection. Act 2 redeems the play. Silences are honoured. Reactions are more thoughtful. Movement becomes more interesting. Here, finally we begin to empathise with the two. We all know (or have been that couple). Can’t live with each other, can’t live without each other. There is a sort of release in the play’s confrontation of this unresolvable truth.
Scenes from a Marriage is a Royal Danish Theatre production, and it is touring here to celebrate the connection between the connection between Australia and Denmark, being performed in that ultimate Australian icon designed by a Dane. Our Mary married it’s prince. So our ties are strong. The play is performed in Danish with English surtitles but the skill of Stengade and Kirkskov carry much of the action for those of us who cannot understand a word of Danish except “skol”.
Which is what we did in the Opera Bar after when discussing the play. A measure of success to talk about it after.
Kate Stratford – On The Town
Scenes From A Marriage
Ingmar Bergman
17 – 21 Oct 2018
Wed – Sat 7:30pm
Sun 6:30pm
Venue: SOH: Playhouse
Theatre Company: Royal Danish Theatre
Duration: N/A
