A Doll's House Archives - North West End UK

My first brush with A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was in 1988. The play was a text for Theatre Studies ‘A’ Level. Our study of the Norwegian classic coincided with the Second Summer of Love. We were listening to French Kiss by Lil Louis on pirate radio, as E-fuelled Acid House swept the nation. Ibsen’s critique of the claustrophobic strictures of 19th century society, with its heavy sideboards and gloomy dialogue did not jive with the vibes of my fellow drama students. We yawned, eye-rolled and gurned, wearing smiley face t-shirts and muddy Kickers. In 2022, in the crazy throes of lockdown, Soho Theatre produced an online adaption of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. It was created, written and directed by Jen Heyes and starred the avant garde legend David Hoyle. HEDDA (after Ibsen), blew my mind....

Even though he resembled everyone's idea of a Victorian gentleman, Ibsen's radical 1879 study of a woman's place in a patriarchal, middle class Norwegian society, is often cited as a crucial accelerant to the nascent female emancipation movement at the end of the 19th century. It is therefore fitting that in the week we celebrate International Women's Day, that writer Stef Smith has adapted it to ' Nora: A Doll's House', examining how one of the most famous characters in theatre would have fared in three different time periods. The result is complex, confusing and frustrating in equal measure. We meet Nora as three separate entities simultaneously on stage. Nora 1918 (Kirsty Rider) cuts a frustrated figure, married and caged at the end of World War One as the suffrage movement is reachi...

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A Doll’s House – Almeida

Nora: A Doll’s House – Royal Exchange Theatre