After being absent for almost twenty years from the West End, Ewan McGregor got back on stage this week in London, playing the main character in My Master Builder, a contemporary retelling of Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder. The play premiered at Wyndham’s Theatre and is a topic of interest, to say the least, with the edgy themes and unconventional stage directions.
McGregor’s Resonant Return to the Stage
McGregor, who’s widely regarded for playing characters in Star Wars, Trainspotting, and Fargo, has not been seen onstage in London since 2008. This reimagined Ibsen play served as his catalyst in both personal and artistic terms. My Master Builder is the 19th-century narrative refashioned into modern-day psychology in the Hamptons by the efforts of both Michael Grandage and Lila Raicek who directed and penned the play, respectively.
It takes on the issues of power, regret, and the struggle of women for their voice. McGregor is in the role of Henry Solness, a man who has built a good but still troubled life, tackling professional and personal wilderness when a dinner party goes awry. Kate Fleetwood is part of the cast, playing the role of Elena, an indifferent to the feelings of her husband. At the same time, Elizabeth Debicki becomes Hilde, a woman from the past who is both a mystery and who posed a challenge to Henry.
An Inventive Update of the Classic Text
The conversation around the production mostly involved the views expressed by Raicek about Ibsen’s script. Emphasizing the emotional trauma of women, she, in her version, elevates the position of the female characters in the narrative. Elena and Hilde are played with depth, thus changing the typical power structure and, as a result, arising an outcry among fans and reviewers.
Together with the abovementioned alterations, the new scripted version also rewrites the original Norwegian setting into the Hamptons high-tech mansion that comes up with the contemporary, sleek style of the set design and uses the lighting to create an atmosphere, adhering to the latest trends in the theater business. The so-called modern ways of doing things have certainly improved the production, which makes the audiences of today feel that they are part of the action itself.
Contradictory Critics Comments and Great Performance
The reaction to McGregor’s acting has, for the most part, been complimentary. A lot of critics have lauded his acting skills and his mastery of the stage, observing the way he catches the man’s frailty as he is losing his grip over not only his career but also his relationships.
On the other hand, the performace of the play itself is a polarizing matter. At the beginning, the aspect of gender shift was seen as an enlightened and parallel coin of the play’s original psychological tension by the supporters of the shift and those who were skeptical argued that it only dispersed the original tension of the play. However, most of the critics have agreed that My Master Builder is a daring production that should definitely be seen.
One reviewer of The Times commented, “McGregor has presented a performance characterized by hushed tension and a magnetic personality. Without sacrificing the original’s emotional stakes, he has reinvented Ibsen’s art.”
Behind the Scenes: A Role That is Relevant Now More Than Ever
One of the topics that McGregor covered in his conversations with the press was his choice to go back to the stage, the role of his character, what was so special about this role in particular, Henry. “Flawed characters have always been my favourite. Henry is self-contradictory – successful but tortured, a hero but solitary,” were his words. “It seemed the appropriate time for me to return to live performance.”
The director, McGregor’s frequent stage producer, Michael Grandage, depicted the cooperation between the two of them as very dynamic. He appreciated the actor’s readiness for a switching-up of traditional acting materials and his openness to the demonstration of vulnerability on stage.
According to the text, the way in which personal ambition can corrode human relationships is also one of the topics that are discussed indirectly in the play.
Continuing until Summer
The show of My Master Builder will be staged at Wyndham’s Theatre until July 12, 2025. Since the previews have started, tickets are in great demand, and several days have been sold out already. The production is likely to attract not only domestic but also foreign spectators, the majority of whom are longing to witness McGregor’s homecoming in the theater world.
This part will be an additional one to the already hectic year of the actor. Apart from this role, McGregor plays the leading role in A Gentleman in Moscow on Paramount+, and he is also getting ready for the 2026 sci-fi thriller Flowervale Street.
What is certain is that fans are the main participants of the theater, or, probably, those who are fascinated by the modernization of classic things. Throughout the play, it reveals as one of the most popular activities in London this spring.