Vildanden

In a lavish yet dimly lit office of a powerful merchant, the evening’s dinner party is being prepared. Servants bustle, gossip floats about a long‑absent son, and an elderly, disheveled man, Old Ekdal, slips through the back door with a mysterious parcel. The atmosphere crackles with quiet rivalry and unspoken histories, setting a tone of both comfort and concealed unease.

Into this scene arrives Gregers, the merchant’s son, driven by a fierce longing to expose buried truths and to free his cousin Hedvig from a life of quiet resignation. He brings with him the image of a wild duck—a symbol of fragile beauty and unattainable freedom—that both fascinates and disturbs the household. As old loyalties clash with fresh idealism, listeners are drawn into a delicate balance of hope, disappointment, and the question of whether honesty can truly set anyone free.