cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

eat a driver to death with a yoke-tree, and partly because of another affair, which did not
come fully to light, but still contributed to his being reluctant to go to Norway again.
His partner Julius Olsen was a real old-fashioned provincial actor in the heroic
tradition, a serious person who always appeared, both on the stage and in everyday life, in
the very highest-heeled cothurni, as the knight without fear and without reproach, but
who, when it came down to it, could not conceal that he was a very ordinary plebeian. He
dropped out of his noble character all the time, pronounced all foreign words incorrectly
and swore like a sailor.
But what about the personnel? They were neither better nor worse than could be
expected under two such directors, who into the bargain had booked their engagements
after the most favored actors and actresses had been placed with better-established
companies. Therefore I was not unprepared for having one thing or another happen to me
in the coming season; why had I allowed myself to be engaged, if not to experience
something, whatever it might be?
I certainly achieved that. As soon as I entered the hotel over in Skåne, where I
was to report for duty, the adventures began. I had scarcely set foot across the threshold
before I saw a tall and husky man in summer clothes and shirtsleeves slip past the end of
the long corridor into which I had stepped, and in a moment a candelabra flew through
the air after him. I was surprised and came to a halt, but before I could interpret the
significance of this phenomenon, another projectile, a carafe full of water, came travelling
in the same direction, at the level of a man's height, and smashed against the wall. At the
same time the fugitive, who had eluded the missile by running into a room at the
intersection, came rather calmly out of a door right beside me. I took him for one of the
servants of the house and asked him if this was where the theatre company lodged.
"Yes indeed! And you presumably are our new actor? Well then, welcome. I am
Director Miller...".
"Ah," I burst out, with an expression which must have betrayed my astonishment
at seeing a director treated in such a manner.
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