Through A Glass Darkly, Almeida Theatre, London, by Huntley Dent

Adapted by Jenny Worton from the film by Ingmar Bergman
Directed by Michael Attenborough
Almeida Theatre, London
10 June - 31 July 2010


Dimitri Leonidas (Max) and Ruth Wilson (Karin) in Through a Glass Darkly | Photo: Simon Annand

Woman on the verge. I came to the Almeida Theatre with doubts about staging an Ingmar Bergman script. Not that the writing wouldn‘t be deep enough but that the stage would be too shallow. Bergman‘s true religion was light (as he makes clear in his compelling autobiography, The Magic Lantern

), and it plays a pivotal role inThrough a Glass Darkly, his 1961 study of a young woman‘s seduction by madness. For Karin, the light is alive, full of voices, beckoning her into a realm of reality where the angels dwell. Bergman conducted much the same search, minus the angels. But can we fully imagine the kingdom of light without Bergman’s camera?
Read the full article on the Berkshire Review for the Arts!

Michael Miller