St. John's Eve (play)

St. John's Eve, (Danish-Norwegian: Sancthansnatten) is a play written by Henrik Ibsen and first performed in 1853. The play is considered apocryphal, because it never entered Ibsen's collected works. It was poorly received at its premiere at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen in 1853.

The play takes place during a midsummer feast on a valley farm in Telemark. Here, we find two very different attitudes symbolized in the old farm house and a new house. The farm house is inhabited by the old farmer, Berg, and his granddaughter Anne. The new house is inhabited by Anne's stepmother, Mrs. Berg, and her daughter from a previous marriage, Juliane. At the time of the play, Anne's father is dead, and there is a big question as to what will come of his inheritance. The second Mrs. Berg wishes for her daughter to inherit the farm and has found her a suitor from town, Johannes Birk. He arrives with Juliane's brother Jørgen, and a fellow student, Julian Paulsen. The young ones assemble for a trip to the hill of St. John (Sankthanshaugen), to take part in the revels of rural festivity. Jørgen prepares the punch, but the people are not aware of the nisse, who lives in the attic of the old house. He mixes the liquor with a mystical flower, with the virtue of remembrance for those who have forgotten their past.

The young ones wander away after tasting the liquor. Anne walks with Birk, Julian with Juliane. As the night wears on, elves dance in the forest, and Anne finds a flower, in Norwegian called "Keys of St. Mary". With this, she orders the mountain to open, and the couples witness a play within a play, an old ballad about a girl who was abducted into the mountain by the mountain king and drank a cup of forgetfulness. Anne, who was brought up on old folklore and songs, recognizes the verses. She is surprised to learn that Birk knows them too. Paulsen, on the other hand, interprets the mountain king as a "Fine gentleman of the upper classes", from his own town.

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