The Pretenders

The Pretenders is a dramatic play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The Pretenders was written in bursts during 1863, but Ibsen claims to have had sources and the idea back in 1858. It is a five-act play in prose set in the thirteenth-century. The play opened at the old Christiania Theatre on the 19th of January 1864. The plot revolves around the historical conflict between Norwegian King Hakon Hakonsson and his father-in-law; Earl Skule Bardsson. It has been commonly ascribed to the rivalry between Ibsen and Bjornstjerne Bjornson, who had succeeded Ibsen as director of the Norske Theater in 1857.