My Master Builder
08 May 2025
Wyndham’s Theatre
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
As an avid fan of modernised Ibsen plays, I couldn’t miss My Master Builder at the Wyndham’s Theatre, running until 12 July. The new answer to Ibsen’s The Master Builder is written by American playwright and screenwriter Lila Raicek and focuses on the women in the story, giving them rich inner lives and freedom to discuss their perspectives with one another.
Set in a pretentiously stylish house in the Hamptons, starchitect Henry Solness (Ewan McGregor) reminisces about his career while his frustrated wife Elena (Kate Fleetwood) plots her revenge for his perceived transgressions. While Henry’s former student and short-lives affair Mathilde (Elizabeth Debicki) desperately wants to rekindle their tryst a decade prior, Elena’s assistant Kaja (Mirren Mack) has a secret affair with Henry’s protege, Ragnar (David Ajala), whom Elena was hoping to start an affair of her own with. It’s a confusing mess of romantic entanglements that leads to many a dramatic confrontation.
The plot itself unravels over one day, over the backdrop of the unveiling of the completed redesign of an old whaling church near the Solnesses own beach-front home, during a Fourth of July party. Very dramatic. McGregor’s starchitect holds grand speeches about memory and meaning, but other than that he’s a bit of a wet rag of a character, not aided by the screen actor’s stilted demeanour that fails to bring life to a bit of a blank canvas. Whether it’s the lack of material to work with, or the 17 year break from stage acting, it simply doesn’t work. Why two strongly characterised female characters are falling over themselves and each other to lust over this lacklustre portrayal of a vapid academic remains a mystery throughout the play. Debicki’s Hilda feels equally wooden and lacks the passion expected of a young woman returning to a man she was obsessed with a decade before and still dreams of being with. The emotion just didn’t come across from her precise and calculated interpretation of the role. In addition to the muted acting of two of the leads, they are absolutely overshadowed by the powerhouse that is Kate Fleetwood, single-handedly filling the entire auditorium with the presence of capable but tortured Elena, a woman on a mission! The amount of plotting this woman has committed to before the events of the day is astounding, a powerful portrayal of a powerful woman with questionable morals.
The gorgeous stage design does help keep the attention flatly on the stage, though the oddly designed, newly unveiled project does somewhat remind of the glassy rod buildings made by the Doozers from Fraggle Rock. And while the women as well as Ragnar get stunningly designed wardrobe that suits their characters incredibly well and shows off their status within the society they move in, Henry Solness is again left drab, non-descript, in linen shirt and cropped beach trousers, earthy colours.
The best part of this rewritten play is the amount of time the female characters are allowed to speak their minds. There is a lot of long-winded exposition involved, but it leads to very fruitful conversations between women with differing opinions. Young millennial feminism clashes with gen X feminism in fascinating exchanges between Hilde and Elena that full of depth and intense discussion. It’s a delight to see women on stage be given deeply developed characters full of nuance and brimming with personal history. If only they had something to talk about other than the mediocre men in their lives.
