This chapter examines consistent patterns and changing trends in British representations of Scandinavia throughout the nineteenth century. It demonstrates how Scandinavia became not only an alternative destination for British travellers but also the source of new literary forms and motifs which inspired and fuelled contemporary debates in British society. Its case studies are Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796), Harriet Martineau’s Feats on the Fjord (1841), and Maria Sharpe Pearson’s writings on Ibsen’s work published in the British press (1889–94). These texts demonstrate the growing attraction of the Scandinavian landscape and the so-called cultural (re)discovery of Old Norse literature and mythology as well as Scandinavia’s rising literary reputation from the 1880s onwards thanks to the international impact of realist and naturalist works by Scandinavian authors, notably Henrik Ibsen. Ultimately Scandinavia offered the ‘allure of accessible difference’ as the region was and continues to be perceived as both geographically and culturally close – and yet far away.

Chapter 2 addresses Komediehuset in Bergen, Norway in its 1850–1909 iteration. Built by an amateur dramatic society in 1800 and destroyed by a 1944 British bombing raid, it has a twofold historical importance: it housed the first professional Norwegian theatre company and it is where the young Henrik Ibsen learned his craft. We consider the theatre’s high point as a social space for audiences and artists to create a national identity for the emerging state of Norway. This chapter focuses on set design, specifically in Olaf Liljekrans, an early play by Ibsen. Via performance labs in conjunction with artists, actors, and a designer, we analyse how Ibsen used space and movement to elucidate the discourses within his plays. In the famous social dramas written after he left Norway, Ibsen perfected this technique of writing meanings into bodies and imaginary stage spaces. The chapter illustrates Komediehuset’s role in the birth of Norwegian nationalism on stage and the beginnings of modern drama.