Little Eyolf, Almeida Theatre ****

From Greeks to Europeans, Rupert Goold now has a season of Ibsen and Chekhov, first being Richard Eyre's staging of his own adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf. The work of Ibsen and Chekhov often inspire the same dread as with Greek drama. The focus on the bourgeoisie and the flowery language makes it difficult for me to find an in to the drama. Eyre's adaptation, however, is far easier to relate with all the flowers pruned and a three act play being condensed into an 80 minute roller coaster of tragedy. Tim Hatley's pristine and pretty set of a wooden veranda with a mountain backdrop lulls you into a false sense of security before being ripped apart by the brutality of Eileen Walsh's rat woman who induces death and destruction on this wealthy family. The cool and settling nature of the Scandinavian sounds and fjords are given a more brutal and harsh characteristic by Ibsen and Eyre and Jon Driscoll's videos bring this out. The whole play and production is full of deception deceit and finding new meaning, with the innocence of childhood and the relationship between siblings being challenged. Jolyon Coy is wonderful as Alfred, whose revelation to focus attention on Eyolf starts a competition between the child and Lydia Leonard's superbly portrayed Rita, whose sexual desires create hatred and distrust. This is a brutal and raw production of Ibsen at his best.