All but one of Ibsen`s 26 dramas had their world premières in Ibsen`s own lifetime. The first ten world premières were in Norway. But in 1876-77 Ibsen`s breakthrough as a world dramatist was a fact. On 14 November 1877 Pillars of Society had its world première at the Odense Teater, which was the first stage outside Norway to host the very first performance of an Ibsen play. Subsequently theatres in Sweden, the USA, Germany and Finland joined in a constant race to be the first to put on a new play by Ibsen.
Below you will find a survey of the very first performances of all of Ibsen`s plays. The productions have been arranged chronologically.
| Play (year of creation) |
First performed |
Theatre (place) |
| The Burial Mound (1850) |
September 26th 1850 |
Christiania Theater |
| St. John`s Night (1852) |
January 2nd 1853 |
Det norske Theater (Bergen) |
| Lady Inger (1854) |
January 2nd 1855 |
Det norske Theater (Bergen) |
| The Feast at Solhoug (1855) |
January 2nd 1856 |
Det norske Theater (Bergen) |
| Olaf Liljekrans (1856) |
January 2nd 1857 |
Det norske Theater (Bergen) |
| The Vikings at Helgeland (1857) |
November 24th 1858 |
Kristiania Norske Theater |
| The Pretenders (1863) |
January 17th 1864 |
Christiania Theater |
| The League of Youth (1868-69) |
October 18th 1869 |
Christiania Theater |
| Love`s Comedy (1862) |
November 24th 1873 |
Christiania Theater |
| Peer Gynt (1867) |
February 24th 1876 |
Christiania Theater |
| The Pillars of Society (1875-77) |
November 14th 1877 |
Aug. Rasmussen`s theatre company at Odense Teater |
| A Doll`s House (1879) |
December 21st 1879 |
Det Kongelige Teater (Copenhagen) |
| Catiline (1849) |
December 3rd 1881 |
Nya Teatern (Stockholm) |
| Ghosts (1881) |
May 20th 1882 |
Aurora Turner Hall (Chicago) |
| An Enemy of the People (1882) |
January 13th 1883 |
Christiania Theater |
| The Wild Duck (1884) |
January 9th 1885 |
Den nationale Scene (Bergen) |
| Brand (1865) |
March 24th 1885 |
Nya Teatern (Stockholm) |
| Rosmersholm (1886) |
January 17th 1887 |
Den nationale Scene (Bergen) |
| The Lady from the Sea (1888) |
February 12th 1889 |
Christiania Theater
Hoftheater (Weimar) |
| Hedda Gabler (1890) |
January 31st 1891 |
Residenz-Theater (Munich) |
| The Master Builder (1892) |
January 19th 1893 |
Lessing Theater (Berlin) |
| Little Eyolf (1894) |
January 12th 1895 |
Deutsches Theater (Berlin) |
| Emperor and Galilean (1871-73) |
December 5th 1896 |
Leipzig Stadttheater (adaptation) |
| John Gabriel Borkman (1896) |
January 10th 1897 |
Suomalainen Teaatteri (Helsinki)
Svenska Teatern (Helsinki) |
| When We Dead Awaken (1899) |
January 26th 1900 |
Hoftheater (Stuttgart) |
| Norma (1851) |
November 5th 1994 |
Studentenes Interne Teater (Trondheim) |
By Jens-Morten Hanssen / ibsen.net