Baron’s Court Theatre
3rd Nov – 22nd Nov, 2015
7:30pm (Two and half hours)
A Doll’s House, written by Henrick Ibsen, was first performed in 1879, and today the same discussions are still whirling about: the right of individuals to discover themselves, presumably at whatever the cost to others, especially the children.
This complex and multi layered play, and its premise, has always vexed me. Would the New Dreams Theatre Company’s production stir my depths again?
Oh yes, indeed. Dick and I not only had the great pleasure of seeing this controversial but popular play passionately performed at Baron’s Court Theatre, but argued all the way home about just these ‘rights’.
Paul Vates (Torvald Helmer) has been writing in Frost Magazine over the last few months, highlighting the processes involved in putting on a stage play. It was good, therefore, to join the audience in the intimate theatre below The Curtains Up pub on 10th November. Good, but slightly nerve wracking – would it work, would it move me, make me laugh, make me cross, make me re-join the argument?
Kevin Russell’s production of Bryony Lavery’s pared adaptation is confident and modern, but nonetheless steeped in the essence of the period. Ibsen writes of lives lived behind closed doors, and I believe he hints at the accommodations needed in order to hold everything together, though others see only the ‘rights’ within the play.
A Doll’s House touches on many things, fraud, debt, loneliness, unrequited love, death, the roles people play, the responsibility borne by bread winners, the sense of patronising male ownership of wife and children, and ultimately, the choice made by Nora to pursue her happiness and personal development whatever the cost. This attitude has never sat well with me, and never will.
The pace was crisp, the set utilized, Nora (Alexa Matthews) is compelling, beautiful and frenetic, Torvald (Paul Vates) a cypher of the age, and is as emotionally repressed as Nora, conforming to the norms of society and business as he does.
Just as circumstances strip Nora of her ability to role-play as a doll within a doll’s house, so too, they strip Torvald of his role as perceived by society. Vates’ confusion and desperation reveals a humanity that moved me, brought me to tears, in fact, and more than balanced Nora’s implacable decision to strive to find herself, to grasp her ‘rights’ heedless of the contextual responsibilities.
The whole production is thoughtful, subtle, and all the players more than fulfilled their roles: Julia Florimo as Mrs Linde is a good foil to Nora, as she exposes her controlling personality to bring about all that she wants. Ramzi Dehani’s Krogstad is ready to wreak his revenge, and is taken by surprise at the happy harbour into which he is being led by Ms Linde, by the nose one thinks. Brian Merry’s Dr Rank is painful and lost in love for Nora, but determined to wrest control back and terminate his illness at a time of his choosing.
I thought Nora’s interior monologue worked well, and the brief by-play with the maid Helene, was supposed to reassure us that as she’d brought up Nora, she would bring up the three children and all would be well. Tosh.
I loved it. A bravura production. It is with me still. And let me tell you, Dick was engrossed throughout and he so often isn’t.
Don’t miss it, grab the chance while you can.
A Doll’s House (Bryony Lavery)
Baron’s Court Theatre, (below The Curtains Up pub)
3rd Nov – 22nd Nov, 2015
7:30pm
PRODUCTION TEAM
Set designer: Katie Unsworth Murrey. Lighting design: Harry Amatage, Sound Design: Ben Cowen.
New Dreams Theatre