“Who are you to demand happiness?” Pastor Manders lectures Mrs Alving in Belvoir’s new production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts. Almost a century and a half on from the 1881 premiere of the Norwegian playwright’s follow-up to his wildly successful A Doll’s House, Ibsen’s self-righteous, hypocritical pastor is all too familiar to contemporary audiences – especially now, against the backdrop of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey and the debate that surrounds it.

^{Pamela Rabe and Robert Menzies in Belvoir’s Ghosts. Photos © Brett Boardman}

While Ghosts will no longer shock audiences the way it did in the 19th century – an oft-quoted review from the English premiere described it as “an open drain; a loathsome sore unbandaged; a dirty act done publicly” – there is still much in the play that speaks to Australian theatre-goers today, particularly in director Eamon Flack’s slick adaptation, based on the literal translation by Charlotte Barslund.

The play centres on three main characters: Mrs Alving (Pamela Rabe), a widow seeking to lay to rest the ghost of her abusive, philandering husband by building an orphanage in his name; Pastor Manders (Robert Menzies) who is facilitating the project; and...