Regarded as one of Ibsen's most significant and self-revealing works, The Master Builder follows Halvard Solness, a middle-aged man who runs an architecture practice. Despite the CEO title, and in keeping with the plays, Solness is a builder, not an architect. His lack of qualifications fuels his fear of being usurped, and it’s this paranoia and ultimate imposter syndrome that leads to his downfall.

My Master Builder, inspired by Ibsen's classic, brings the action to the present. Set in the Hamptons on the eve of Independence Day, the new play concerns a promoted Henry Solness (McGregor) – a kind of ‘rock starchitect’ in this version – as he celebrates his latest technical triumph. Fittingly for the 4th of July, plenty of fireworks ensue, as burning desires, charged affairs, and explosive accusations flood the night sky.

Ibsen plays are known for their slow burn, with characters gradually revealing their innermost thoughts over several hours and two intervals (the last West End production of The Master Builder was just shy of 180 minutes). This new production doesn’t smoulder; it erupts – burning brightly and fiercely throughout its 1 hour 40 minute run time. A blazing inferno, the play scorches through repression and artifice, laying bare the emotional wreckage with a breathless urgency.

Judgements and accusations are direct – as bold and violent as brutalist architecture that disfigures a uniformed street. They tear down the very foundations of someone's character as if they were clearing rubble from a construction site. The effect is both horrifying and thrilling. It’s like watching a controlled collapse – precise, devastating, and impossible to look away from. Partners, work rivals, and former lovers never skirt around the truth; they hurl it, unflinching, like grenades. And isn’t that something we’ve all wanted to do? To look someone square in the eye and dismantle the polite façades, brick by brick?

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CAST ANNOUNCED FOR BACKBEAT

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