For me, creation of a work starts by asking a question that has arisen from what I have observed.
Study of Ibsen’s work and his relationship with his wife Suzannah prompted me to explore how they had responded to each other and how she had steadfastly supported him. It became clear that she had faith in him and his talent; and it also became clear that she had helped shape him in many ways—setting up his steady time of work, protecting him from others, stimulating him in their conversations through her own reading, and, in fact, losing her own voice in helping him find his. Her extraordinary dedication also provoked a deeper study of the relationship between the sexes, particularly as it appears in the nineteenth century.
And the form of the play and the use of verse arose from these considerations.
