Fifteen years after Nora Helmer walks out, she comes back
Written by Lucas Hnath , A Doll’s House Part 2, a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 A Doll’s House, opened at Tacoma Little Theatre this past weekend. Nora Helmer, the heroine of the original, walks in through the same door, she walked out of 15 years before, at the end of Ibsen’s original play. Although it has a parallel theme to the original, Part 2 lacked the drama and suspense of the original.
As we all know A Doll’s House, raised controversy in 1879, because it depicted how the legal and cultural norms stifled a resourceful woman in bourgeois marriage. Ibsen, however, did not intend the original Doll’s House as a piece of feminist propaganda, but actually as a play about a real life event involving forgery. A female friend of his had felt compelled to forge a man’s signature, on a legal document, because as a married woman, she did not have the right to conduct legal affairs in Norway
Hence, the original Doll’s House was full of intrigue, drama and suspense as everything plays out on stage and in dialogue. The oppression of women is so dexterously woven into the plot that its feminist message was taken very seriously indeed; nonetheless, the audience was riveted to their seats in anticipation. Structurally, as a play, it is virtually flawless. For example, the exposition is imperceptibly swift.
On-stage action, drama, suspense and a swift exposition are discernibly missing in Hnath’s A Doll’s House Part 2. Also missing from the stage are the events of the 15 years when Nora has been on her own. Instead there are confrontations between Nora and her children’s nanny, her daughter and her husband Torvald, that is to say, all the people adversely affected by her absence and reappearance. In this production, due to bad directing by Marilyn Bennett, the real human emotions were never revealed to the audience, it just seemed like excessive exposition.
In terms of the script, in my opinion, using contemporary dialogue and linguist affectations seemed unsuitable to people dressed in 1894 costumes. It was particularly jarring when the elderly servant resorted to four-letter words. Frankly, the physicality of the lead actress Annie Katie Green, as Nora, continually interrupted the illusion that this was taking place more than 100 years ago, especially for dour Norwegians, even of the liberated progressive kind.
At times the dialogue between Torvald and Nora, descended into just nasty angry marital bickering, devoid of any comic relief or real emotions. It was just unpleasant to listen to so much shrieking and yelling. Also, the director was rather careless with the staging, at times there were discrepancies between the text and what took place on stage.
The saving grace for this production was the attractive set design, by Erin Manza Chanfrau and Blake R. & York. It spoke volumes about middle-class respectability and had a very prominent door, suggesting to the cognoscenti that the door had significance and was linked to the original play. The sound and lighting design, by Dylan Twiner was quite intriguing, and enjoyable.
Needless to say, I was quite disappointed. Tacoma Little Theatre is one of my favorite theatres in the Puget Sound region, because they have put on some outstanding plays. As for this play, no one walked out but the applause was tepid.
A Doll’s House, Pt 2 by Lucas Hnath A Sequel to A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. Tacoma Little Theatre 210 N- I St, Tacoma, WA 98403. Feb 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 -7:30. Feb 4, 11 2pm.
Tickets: https://tacomalittletheatre.csstix.com/event-details.php?e=460