Have only just returned from the play...

"A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen performed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre:

Nora is everything a man could desire; a loving, loyal wife and wonderful mother. Her husband has just landed a job finally giving the family financial security. Nora couldn´t be happier.

Yet, as characters from the past enter the cheerful family home, cracks gradually appear on its facade. And as the brutal outside world finally bears down, an intense struggle develops between love and truth, honour and betrayal, and finally, between a desperate husband and his once innocent wife.

Rep page

The play warms up in this production through the actors appearing to find their roles in the latter two thirds where they had previously been simply working the stage. The tone of the work is a harsh and accusatory one - an aspect I was surprised by, for the play allows for a relatively gentle adaptation. The actors in leading roles are prefectly suited though - Tara Fitzgerald is a stunning Nora, bringing across the almost schizophrenic nature of the character - jumping around as her moral torturers tease her to near destruction. Torvald is acted superbly as well - showing fully the controlling nature the husband had over wife - like a puppet master manipulating manequins, he was dominating her life so much she didn't realise it was happening.
The set also complements the arrangement and subject - with furniture dressing of the doll's house style, whilst the whole stage is framed in a large bevel - giving the appearance of a framed work of art, or a domestic scene.

According to The Times:
“The Norwegian title is Et Dukkehjem, which translates as ‘a doll home’,” she explains. “Ibsen deliberately chose not to use the normal term, dukkehus, meaning doll’s house, but created a new compound word. This means that it is Torvald’s home that is a doll home and that Nora is simply one of the dolls that live in it.”Late found accents in tone make the play a more lilting experience rather than the initial continual level of excitement that makes on wish for the interval to come - simply to stop the shoutingly loud voice of Mr Krogstad.