A Doll's House (6940143217)
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''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month. The play is set in a Norwegian town circa 1879. The play concerns the fate of a married woman, who at the time in Norway lacked reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated world, despite the fact that Ibsen denied it was his intent to write a feminist play. It was a great sensation at the time, and caused a "storm of outraged controversy" that went beyond the theatre to the world of newspapers and society. In 2006, the centennial of Ibsen's death, ''A Doll's House'' held the distinction of being the world's most performed play that year. UNESCO has inscribed Ibsen's autographed manuscripts of ''A Doll's House'' on the Memory of the World Register in 2001, in recognition of their historical value. The title of the play is most commonly translated as ''A Doll's House'', though some scholars use ''A Doll House''. John Simon says that ''A Doll's House'' is "the British term for what mericanscall a 'dollhouse.
Egil Törnqvist Per Egil Törnqvist (19 December 1932, Uppsala – 9 March 2015, Amsterdam) was Professor Emeritus of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Amsterdam and an academic literary critic. Earlier (1961) he was in charge of the drama division in th ...
says of the alternative title: "Rather than being superior to the traditional rendering, it simply sounds more idiomatic to Americans."


List of characters

*Nora Helmer – wife of Torvald, mother of three, is living out the ideal of the 19th-century wife, but leaves her family at the end of the play. *Torvald Helmer – Nora's husband, a newly promoted bank manager, professes to be enamoured of his wife but their marriage stifles her. *Dr. Rank – a rich family friend (named "Peter Rank" in Michael Meyer's translation). He is terminally ill, and it is implied that his "tuberculosis of the spine" originates from a venereal disease contracted by his father. *Kristine Linde – Nora's old school friend, widowed, is seeking employment (sometimes spelled Christine in English translations). She was in a relationship with Krogstad prior to the play's setting. *Nils Krogstad – an employee at Torvald's bank, single father, he is pushed to desperation. A supposed scoundrel, he is revealed to be a long-lost lover of Kristine. *The Children – Nora and Torvald's children: Ivar, Bobby and Emmy (in order of age). *Anne Marie – Nora's former nanny, who gave up her own daughter to "strangers" when she became, as she says, the only mother Nora knew. She now cares for Nora's children. *Helene – the Helmers' maid. *The Porter – delivers a Christmas tree to the Helmer household at the beginning of the play.


Synopsis


Act One

The play opens at Christmas time as Nora Helmer enters her home carrying many packages. Nora's husband Torvald is working in his study when she arrives. He playfully rebukes her for spending so much money on Christmas gifts, calling her his "little squirrel." He teases her about how the previous year she had spent weeks making gifts and ornaments by hand because money was scarce. This year Torvald is due a promotion at the bank where he works, so Nora feels that they can let themselves go a little. The maid announces two visitors: Mrs. Kristine Linde, an old friend of Nora's, who has come seeking employment; and Dr. Rank, a close friend of the family, who is let into the study. Kristine has had a difficult few years, ever since her husband died leaving her with no money or children. Nora says that things have not been easy for them either: Torvald became sick, and they had to travel to Italy so he could recover. Kristine explains that when her mother was ill she had to take care of her brothers, but now that they are grown she feels her life is "unspeakably empty." Nora promises to talk to Torvald about finding her a job. Kristine gently tells Nora that she is like a child. Nora is offended, so she tells her that she got money from "some admirer" so they could travel to Italy to improve Torvald's health. She told Torvald that her father gave her the money, but in fact she illegally borrowed it without his knowledge (women were forbidden from conducting financial activities such as signing checks without a man's endorsement). Since then, she has been secretly working and saving up to pay off the loan. Krogstad, a lower-level employee at Torvald's bank, arrives and goes into the study. Nora is clearly uneasy when she sees him. Dr. Rank leaves the study and mentions that he feels wretched, though like everyone he wants to go on living. In contrast to his physical illness, he says that the man in the study, Krogstad, is "morally diseased." After the meeting with Krogstad, Torvald comes out of the study. Nora asks him if he can give Kristine a position at the bank and Torvald is very positive, saying that this is a fortunate moment, as a position has just become available. Torvald, Kristine, and Dr. Rank leave the house, leaving Nora alone. The nanny returns with the children and Nora plays with them for a while until Krogstad creeps through the ajar door into the living room and surprises her. Krogstad tells Nora that Torvald intends to fire him from the bank and asks her to intercede with Torvald to allow him to keep his job. She refuses, and Krogstad blackmails her about the loan she took out for the trip to Italy; he knows that she obtained this loan by forging her father's signature after his death. Krogstad leaves and when Torvald returns, Nora tries to convince him not to fire Krogstad. Torvald refuses to hear her pleas, explaining that Krogstad is a liar and a hypocrite and that years before he had committed a crime: he forged other people's signatures. Torvald feels physically ill in the presence of a man "poisoning his own children with lies and dissimulation."


Act Two

Kristine arrives to help Nora repair a dress for a costume function that she and Torvald plan to attend the next day. Torvald returns from the bank, and Nora pleads with him to reinstate Krogstad, claiming she is worried Krogstad will publish libelous articles about Torvald and ruin his career. Torvald dismisses her fears and explains that, although Krogstad is a good worker and seems to have turned his life around, he must be fired because he is too familiar around Torvald in front of other bank personnel. Torvald then retires to his study to work. Dr. Rank, the family friend, arrives. Nora asks him for a favor, but Rank responds by revealing that he has entered the terminal stage of his disease and that he has always been secretly in love with her. Nora tries to deny the first revelation and make light of it but is more disturbed by his declaration of love. She then clumsily attempts to tell him that she is not in love with him, but loves him dearly as a friend. Having been fired by Torvald, Krogstad arrives at the house. Nora convinces Dr. Rank to go into Torvald's study so he will not see Krogstad. When Krogstad confronts Nora, he declares that he no longer cares about the remaining balance of Nora's loan, but that he will instead preserve the associated bond to blackmail Torvald into not only keeping him employed but also promoting him. Nora explains that she has done her best to persuade her husband, but he refuses to change his mind. Krogstad informs Nora that he has written a letter detailing her crime (forging her father's signature of
surety In finance, a surety , surety bond or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a surety or guarantor to pay ...
on the bond) and put it in Torvald's mailbox, which is locked. Nora tells Kristine of her difficult situation, gives her Krogstad's card with his address, and asks her to try to convince him to relent. Torvald enters and tries to retrieve his mail, but Nora distracts him by begging him to help her with the dance she has been rehearsing for the costume party, feigning anxiety about performing. She dances so badly and acts so childishly that Torvald agrees to spend the whole evening coaching her. When the others go to dinner, Nora stays behind for a few minutes and contemplates killing herself.


Act Three

Kristine tells Krogstad that she only married her husband because she had no other means to support her sick mother and young siblings and that she has returned to offer him her love again. She believes that he would not have stooped to unethical behavior if he had not been devastated by her abandonment and in dire financial straits. Krogstad changes his mind and offers to take back his letter from Torvald. However, Kristine decides that Torvald should know the truth for the sake of his and Nora's marriage. After Torvald literally drags Nora home from the party, Rank follows them. They chat for a while, with Dr. Rank conveying obliquely to Nora that this is a final goodbye, as he has determined that his death is near. Dr. Rank leaves, and Torvald retrieves his letters. As he reads them, Nora prepares to run away for good, but Torvald confronts her with Krogstad's letter. Enraged, he declares that he is now completely in Krogstad's power; he must yield to Krogstad's demands and keep quiet about the whole affair. He berates Nora, calling her a dishonest and immoral woman and telling her that she is unfit to raise their children. He says that from now on their marriage will be only a matter of appearances. A maid enters, delivering a letter to Nora. The letter is from Krogstad, yet Torvald demands to read the letter and takes it from Nora. Torvald exults that he is saved, as Krogstad has returned the incriminating bond, which Torvald immediately burns along with Krogstad's letters. He takes back his harsh words to his wife and tells her that he forgives her. Nora realizes that her husband is not the strong and gallant man she thought he was and that he truly loves himself more than he does Nora. Torvald explains that when a man has forgiven his wife, it makes him love her all the more since it reminds him that she is totally dependent on him, like a child. He preserves his peace of mind by thinking of the incident as a mere mistake that she made owing to her foolishness, one of her most endearing feminine traits. Nora tells Torvald that she is leaving him, and in a confrontational scene expresses her sense of betrayal and disillusionment. She says he has never loved her and they have become strangers to each other. She feels betrayed by his response to the scandal involving Krogstad, and she says she must get away to understand herself. She says that she has been treated like a doll to play with for her whole life, first by her father and then by him. Torvald insists that she fulfill her duty as a wife and mother, but Nora says that she has duties to herself that are just as important, and that she cannot be a good mother or wife without learning to be more than a plaything. She reveals that she had expected that he would want to sacrifice his reputation for hers and that she had planned to kill herself to prevent him from doing so. She now realizes that Torvald is not at all the kind of person she had believed him to be and that their marriage has been based on mutual fantasies and misunderstandings. Nora leaves her keys and wedding ring; Torvald breaks down and begins to cry, baffled by what has happened. After Nora leaves the room, Torvald, for one second, still has a sense of hope, and exclaims to himself "The most wonderful thing of all—?", just before the door downstairs is heard closing.


Alternative ending

Ibsen's German agent felt that the original ending would not play well in German theatres. In addition, copyright laws of the time would not preserve Ibsen's original work. Therefore, for it to be considered acceptable, and prevent the translator from altering his work, Ibsen was forced to write an alternative ending for the German premiere. In this ending, Nora is led to her children after having argued with Torvald. Seeing them, she collapses, and as the curtain is brought down, it is implied that she stays. Ibsen later called the ending a disgrace to the original play and referred to it as a "barbaric outrage". Virtually all productions today use the original ending, as do nearly all of the film versions of the play.


Composition and publication


Real-life inspiration

''A Doll's House'' was based on the life of Laura Kieler (maiden name Laura Smith Petersen), a good friend of Ibsen. Much that happened between Nora and Torvald happened to Laura and her husband, Victor. Similar to the events in the play, Laura signed an illegal loan to save her husband's life – in this case, to find a cure for his tuberculosis. She wrote to Ibsen, asking for his recommendation of her work to his publisher, thinking that the sales of her book would repay her debt. At his refusal, she forged a check for the money. At this point she was found out. In real life, when Victor discovered about Laura's secret loan, he divorced her and had her committed to an asylum. Two years later, she returned to her husband and children at his urging, and she went on to become a well-known Danish author, living to the age of 83. Ibsen wrote ''A Doll's House'' when Laura Kieler had been committed to the asylum. The fate of this friend of the family shook him deeply, perhaps also because Laura had asked him to intervene at a crucial point in the scandal, which he did not feel able or willing to do. Instead, he turned this life situation into an aesthetically shaped, successful drama. In the play, Nora leaves Torvald with head held high, though facing an uncertain future given the limitations single women faced in the society of the time. Kieler eventually rebounded from the shame of the scandal and had her own successful writing career while remaining discontented with sole recognition as "Ibsen's Nora" years afterwards.


Composition

Ibsen started thinking about the play around May 1878, although he did not begin its first draft until a year later, having reflected on the themes and characters in the intervening period (he visualised its
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
, Nora, for instance, as having approached him one day wearing "a blue woolen dress"). He outlined his conception of the play as a "modern tragedy" in a note written in Rome on 19 October 1878. "A woman cannot be herself in modern society," he argues, since it is "an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint!"


Publication

Ibsen sent a fair copy of the completed play to his publisher on 15 September 1879. It was first published in Copenhagen on 4 December 1879, in an edition of 8,000 copies that sold out within a month; a second edition of 3,000 copies followed on 4 January 1880, and a third edition of 2,500 was issued on 8 March.


Production history

''A Doll's House'' received its world premiere on 21 December 1879 at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, with Betty Hennings as Nora, Emil Poulsen as Torvald, and
Peter Jerndorff Peter William Jerndorff (24 November 1842 – 23 December 1926) was a Danish stage actor and opera singer. Amongst the roles he created were Dr. Rank in Ibsen's 1879 play ''A Doll's House'' and Leonard in Carl Nielsen's 1906 opera ''Maskarade''. T ...
as Dr. Rank. Writing for the Norwegian newspaper ''Folkets Avis'', the critic Erik Bøgh admired Ibsen's originality and technical mastery: "Not a single declamatory phrase, no high dramatics, no drop of blood, not even a tear." Every performance of its run was sold out.Meyer (1967, 480). Another production opened at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm, on 8 January 1880, while productions in Christiania (with Johanne Juell as Nora and Arnoldus Reimers as Torvald) and Bergen followed shortly after.Meyer (1967, 479). In Germany, the actress Hedwig Niemann-Raabe refused to perform the play as written, declaring, "''I'' would never leave ''my'' children!" Since the playwright's wishes were not protected by copyright, Ibsen decided to avoid the danger of being rewritten by a lesser dramatist by committing what he called a "barbaric outrage" on his play himself and giving it an alternative ending in which Nora did not leave. A production of this version opened in
Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...
in February 1880.Meyer (1967, 481). This version was also played in Hamburg, Dresden, Hanover, and Berlin, although, in the wake of protests and a lack of success, Niemann-Raabe eventually restored the original ending. Another production of the original version, some rehearsals of which Ibsen attended, opened on 3 March 1880 at the Residenz Theatre in Munich. In Great Britain, the only way in which the play was initially allowed to be given in London was in an adaptation by Henry Arthur Jones and Henry Herman called ''Breaking a Butterfly''. This adaptation was produced at the Princess Theatre, 3 March 1884. Writing in 1896 in his book ''The Foundations of a National Drama'', Jones says: "A rough translation from the German version of A Doll's House was put into my hands, and I was told that if it could be turned into a sympathetic play, a ready opening would be found for it on the London boards. I knew nothing of Ibsen, but I knew a great deal of Robertson and H. J. Byron. From these circumstances came the adaptation called ''Breaking a Butterfly''." H.L. Mencken writes that it was ''A Doll's House'' "denaturized and
dephlogisticated The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burni ...
. … Toward the middle of the action Ibsen was thrown to the fishes, and Nora was saved from suicide, rebellion, flight and immorality by making a faithful old clerk steal her fateful promissory note from Krogstad's desk. … The curtain fell upon a happy home." Before 1899 there were two private productions of the play in London (in its original form as Ibsen wrote it) — one featured George Bernard Shaw in the role of Krogstad. The first public British production of the play in its regular form opened on 7 June 1889 at the Novelty Theatre, starring Janet Achurch as Nora and Charles Charrington as Torvald. Achurch played Nora again for a 7-day run in 1897. Soon after its London premiere, Achurch brought the play to Australia in 1889. The play was first seen in America in 1883 in Louisville, Kentucky;
Helena Modjeska Helena Modrzejewska (; born Jadwiga Benda; 12 October 1840 – 8 April 1909), known professionally as Helena Modjeska, was a Polish actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles. She was successful first on the Polish stage. After e ...
acted Nora. The play made its Broadway premiere at the Palmer's Theatre on 21 December 1889, starring Beatrice Cameron as Nora Helmer. It was first performed in France in 1894. Other productions in the United States include one in 1902 starring Minnie Maddern Fiske, a 1937 adaptation with acting script by Thornton Wilder and starring Ruth Gordon, and a 1971 production starring Claire Bloom. A new translation by Zinnie Harris at the Donmar Warehouse, starring Gillian Anderson, Toby Stephens, Anton Lesser, Tara FitzGerald and
Christopher Eccleston Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, he is best known for his television and film work, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series '' ...
opened in May 2009. The play was performed by 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company in March 2011, one of their early performances following their December 2010 lower Manhattan launch. In August 2013, Young Vic, London, Great Britain, produced a new adaptation of ''A Doll's House'' directed by Carrie Cracknell based on the English language version by Simon Stephens. In September 2014, in partnership with
Brisbane Festival Brisbane Festival is one of Australia's leading international arts festivals, and is held each September in Brisbane, Australia. Its presence dominates the city for three weeks in September and its line-up of classical and contemporary music, t ...
, La Boite located in Brisbane, Australia, hosted an adaptation of ''A Doll's House'' written by Lally Katz and directed by Stephen Mitchell Wright. In June 2015, Space Arts Centre in London staged an adaptation of ''A Doll's House'' featuring the discarded alternate ending.. 'Manaveli' Toronto staged a Tamil version of ''A Doll's House'' (ஒரு பொம்மையின் வீடு)on 30 June 2018,Translated and Directed by Mr P Vikneswaran. The drama was very well received by the Tamil Community in Toronto and was staged again in few months later. The same stage play was filmed at the beginning of 2019 and screened in Toronto on 4 May 2019. The film was received with very good reviews and the artists were hailed for their performance. Now, arrangements are being made to screen the film, ஒரு பொம்மையின் வீடு, in London, at Safari Cinema Harrow, on 7 July 2019; From September 2019 to October 2019 the Lyric Hammersmith in London hosted a new adaptation of the play by Tanika Gupta who moved the setting of the play to colonial India. Though the plot largely remained unchanged, the protagonists were renamed Tom and Niru Helmer and a conversation was added regarding the British oppression of the Indian public. One significant shift was the lack of a slamming door at the end of the play. They also published a pack of teaching materials which includes extracts from the adapted play script. A production of ''A Doll's House'' by The Jamie Lloyd Company starring
Jessica Chastain Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in films with feminist themes, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. ''Time'' ...
was scheduled to play at the Playhouse Theatre in London in the summer of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the play was postponed to a later date.


Analysis and criticism

''A Doll's House'' questions the traditional roles of men and women in 19th-century marriage. To many 19th-century Europeans, this was scandalous. The covenant of marriage was considered holy, and to portray it as Ibsen did was controversial. However, the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw found Ibsen's willingness to examine society without prejudice exhilarating. The Swedish playwright August Strindberg criticised the play in his volume of essays and short stories '' Getting Married'' (1884). Strindberg questioned Nora's walking out and leaving her children behind with a man that she herself disapproved of so much that she would not remain with him. Strindberg also considers that Nora's involvement with an illegal financial fraud that involved Nora forging a signature, all done behind her husband's back, and then Nora's lying to her husband regarding Krogstad's blackmail, are serious crimes that should raise questions at the end of the play, when Nora is moralistically judging her husband. And Strindberg points out that Nora's complaint that she and Torvald "have never exchanged one serious word about serious things," is contradicted by the discussions that occur in act one and two. The reasons Nora leaves her husband are complex, and various details are hinted at throughout the play. In the last scene, she tells her husband she has been "greatly wronged" by his disparaging and condescending treatment of her, and his attitude towards her in their marriage – as though she were his "doll wife" — and the children in turn have become her "dolls," leading her to doubt her own qualifications to raise her children. She is troubled by her husband's behavior in regard to the scandal of the loaned money. She does not love her husband, she feels they are strangers, she feels completely confused, and suggests that her issues are shared by many women. George Bernard Shaw suggests that she left to begin "a journey in search of self-respect and apprenticeship to life," and that her revolt is "the end of a chapter of human history." Ibsen was inspired by the belief that "a woman cannot be herself in modern society," since it is "an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint."Ibsen, "Notes for a Modern Tragedy"; quoted by Meyer (1967, 466); see also Innes (2000, 79–81). Its ideas can also be seen as having a wider application: Michael Meyer argued that the play's theme is not women's rights, but rather "the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is and to strive to become that person." In a speech given to the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights in 1898, Ibsen insisted that he "must disclaim the honor of having consciously worked for the women's rights movement," since he wrote "without any conscious thought of making propaganda," his task having been "the ''description of humanity''." However, the play is associated with feminism, as Miriam Schneir includes it in her anthology '' Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings'', labelling it as one of the essential feminist works. Because of the departure from traditional behavior and theatrical convention involved in Nora's leaving home, her act of slamming the door as she leaves has come to represent the play itself. In ''Iconoclasts'' (1905), James Huneker noted "That slammed door reverberated across the roof of the world."


Adaptations


Film

''A Doll's House'' has been adapted for the cinema on many occasions, including: * The 1922 lost silent film '' A Doll's House'' starring Alla Nazimova as Nora. * The 1923 German silent film '' Nora'' directed by Berthold Viertel. Nora was played by Olga Chekhova, who was born Olga Knipper, and was the niece and namesake of
Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
’s wife. She was also Mikhail Chekhov's wife. *The 1943 Argentine film ''
Casa de muñecas ''A Doll's House'' ( es, Casa de muñecas) is a 1943 Argentine drama film directed by Ernesto Arancibia and starring Delia Garcés and George Rigaud. It is based on the play ''A Doll's House'' by Henrik Ibsen. At the 1944 Argentine Film Critics As ...
'' starring Delia Garcés, which modernizes the story and uses the alternative ending. *The 1944 German film '' Nora'' directed by Harald Braun which retells the story in line with Nazi ideology on the place of women, resolving it with Nora in the home. *The 1954 Mexican film ''Casa de muñecas'', directed by Alfredo B. Crevenna and starring Marga López, Ernesto Alonso and Miguel Torruco, sets the story in modern-day Mexico, adds a flashback framing device, turns Dr. Rank (renamed Dr. Eduardo Anguiano and played by Alonso, who gets second billing) into Nora's doomed suitor and savior, changes Nora's motivation for leaving her house, and adds a happy ending the following Christmas Eve. *Two film versions were released in 1973: '' A Doll's House'' directed by
Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blackliste ...
starring
Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, sev ...
,
David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Others ...
and Trevor Howard; and '' A Doll's House'' directed by Patrick Garland starring Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, and
Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...
. * Dariush Mehrjui's 1992 film '' Sara'' is based on ''A Doll's House'', with the plot transferred to Iran. ''Sara'', played by Niki Karimi, is the ''Nora'' of Ibsen's play. * In 2012, the
Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 201 ...
theatre in London released a short film titled ''Nora'' with Hattie Morahan portraying what a modern-day Nora might look like. * In 2016, there were plans for a modernized adaptation starring Ben Kingsley as Doctor Rank and Michele Martin as Nora.


Television

* The 1959 adaptation was a live version for American TV directed by George Schaefer. This version featured Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer, Hume Cronyn, Eileen Heckart and Jason Robards. * In 1973, Norwegian TV produced an adaptation of ''A Doll's House'' titled ''Et dukkehjem'' directed by Arild Brinchmann and starring Lise Fjeldstad as Nora Helmer. * A 1974 West German television adaptation titled ' was directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starred Margit Carstensen in the title role. * In 1992, David Thacker directed a British television adaptation with Juliet Stevenson, Trevor Eve and David Calder.


Radio

* A '' Lux Radio Theatre'' production on 6 June 1938 starred Joan Crawford as Nora and
Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...
as Torvald. * A later version by the '' Theatre Guild on the Air'' on 19 January 1947 featured Rathbone again as Torvald with Dorothy McGuire as Nora. * In 2012,
BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
broadcast an adaptation by Tanika Gupta transposing the setting to India in 1879, where Nora (renamed 'Niru') is an Indian woman married to Torvald (renamed 'Tom'), an English man working for the British Colonial Administration in Calcutta. This production starred Indira Varma as Niru and Toby Stephens as Tom.


Re-staging

* In 1989, film and stage director
Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...
staged and published a shortened reworking of the play, now entitled ''Nora'', which entirely omitted the characters of the servants and the children, focusing more on the power struggle between Nora and Torvald. It was widely viewed as downplaying the feminist themes of Ibsen's original. The first staging of it in New York was reviewed by the ''Times'' as heightening the play's melodramatic aspects. The ''Los Angeles Times'' stated that "''Nora'' shores up ''A Doll's House'' in some areas but weakens it in others." * Lucas Hnath wrote '' A Doll's House, Part 2'' as a follow-up about Nora 15 years later. * In 2017, performance artist Cherdonna Shinatra wrote and starred in a reworking of the play titled "Cherdonna's Doll House" under the direction of Ali Mohamed el-Gasseir. The production was staged at 12th Avenue Arts through Washington Ensemble Theatre. Brendan Kiley of The Seattle Times described it as a "triple-decker satire" in which "Cherdonna’s version of Ibsen’s play about femininity turns into a kind of memoir about Kuehner’s neither-here-nor-there career identity." * The
Citizens' Theatre The Citizens Theatre, in what was the Royal Princess's Theatre, is the creation of James Bridie and is based in Glasgow, Scotland as a principal producing theatre. The theatre includes a 500-seat Main Auditorium, and has also included various s ...
in Glasgow have performed ''Nora: A Doll's House'' by Stef Smith, a radical re-working of the play, with three actors playing Nora, simultaneously taking place in 1918, 1968 and 2018. The production later transferred to the
Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 201 ...
in London. * Dottok-e-Log (Doll's House), adapted and directed by Kashif Hussain, was performed in the Balochi language at the National Academy of Performing Arts on 30 and 31 March 2019.


Novels

* In 2019, memoirist, journalist and professor Wendy Swallow published ''Searching for Nora: After the Doll's House''. Swallow's historical novel tells the story of Nora Helmer's life from the moment in December 1879 that Nora walks out on her husband and young children at the close of A Doll's House. Swallow draws from her research into Ibsen's play and iconic protagonist, the realities of the time, and the 19th-century Norwegian emigration to America, following Nora as she first struggles to survive in Kristiania (today's Oslo) and then travels by boat, train and wagon to a new home in the western prairie of Minnesota.


Dance

* Stina Quagebeur's ballet ''Nora'' for the English National Ballet premiered in 2019, with Crystal Costa as Nora and Jeffrey Cirio as Torvald, set to
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
's Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.


Citations


General and cited sources

* * Dukore, Bernard F., ed. 1974. ''Dramatic Theory and Criticism: Greeks to Grotowski''. Florence, KY: Heinle & Heinle. . * * *


Further reading

* Ibsen, Henrick (trans. McLeish)
''A Doll's House''
Nick Hern Books, London, 1994 * Merriam, Eve. ''After Nora Slammed the Door: From Doll's House to Paper Doll Lives? Merriam Looks at the "Women's Revolution" in America''. World Publishing Company, Cleveland, 1964. * Unwin, Stephen
Ibsen's ''A Doll's House'' (Page to Stage Study Guide)
Nick Hern Books, London, 1997 * William L. Urban. "Parallels in ''A Doll's House''. ''Festschrift in Honor of Charles Speel''. Ed. by Thomas J. Sienkewicz and James E. Betts. Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois, 1997.


External links


Texts and other resources
at the National Library of Norway * *
A Doll's House
at the Internet Movie Database

* * * (alternate edition) * * '' The Social Significance of the Modern Drama'', a book by
Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...
, contain
a chapter on ''A Doll's House''

1946 ''Theatre Guild on the Air'' radio adaptation
at Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolls House, A 1879 plays Plays by Henrik Ibsen Plays about families Plays set in the 19th century Memory of the World Register Norwegian plays adapted into films West End plays Broadway plays Off-Broadway plays Drama Desk Award-winning plays Tony Award-winning plays Tragedy plays