Rosmersholm

Pearl Theatre Company offers a fascinating and rewarding revival of Henrik Ibsen's bracing examination of idealism, truth and social standing. Not only does Rosmersholm successfully merge heightened emotional drama with proto-Shavian dialectical argument, but it also functions as a greatest-hits package of themes from the master playwright’s work. (It resembles a reshuffled Hedda Gabler.) After the usual first-act longueurs, Elinor Renfield’s modest production snaps into shape; the wily, rumpled Austin Pendleton stands out in the cast.—Adam Feldman