Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Theatre Review: A Doll's House Part 2

Melbourne Theatre Company, Sumner Theatre until 19 September.

Somewhere in the annals of my back brain there was a memory of studying Ibsen. I think it was first year uni. I remember rather liking Ibsen - mainly for the structure and probably, subconsciously for the way people had to get out of sucky situations. I liked Ibsen more than Chekhov. That is easy. Ibsen had a point. Chekhov rambled on without a point, like the rest of the Russians - although I adore Uncle Vanya and always will. (If you get a chance, look up Vanya on 42nd Street - Wallace Shawn is amazing, Brooke Smith, heartbreaking. I also think my girl-crush on Julianne Moore started here).

Anyways, digging around in my back brain, also known as google, I began to remember the plot of A Doll's House. A woman stuck in an unhappy marriage scandalously walks out on her husband. The last moment of the play, Nora, the lugubrious wife, storms out the front door, walking out on all she knows.

Ibsen wrote A Dolls House in 1879.

Fast forward nearly 150 years and the imagination of playwright Lucas Hnath is piqued.

And Nora, some 15 years later, returns home to her husband, the house keeper and her daughter.

Hnath's tight script brings Nora back to the family after 15 years. Where has she been? How has she survived? What has happened to her family? Why has she returned? All of these questions are answered in a plausable, and watchable 90 minute on the stage. It's smart, funny and touching in equal measure as a now confident Nora comes to take her final freedoms from her husband.

This production of this well reviewed play is great. Marta Dusseldorp is excellent and the returning Nora. Greg Stone brings just the right amount of bewilderment and indignation to her deserted husband, Torvald. Zoe Terakes and Deirdre Rubenstein round out the cast as Nora's now adult daughter and the family housekeeper.

This is a tight and engaging play. The minimal set, a door, two chairs and a few coat hooks, is the perfect foil to let the drama play out. Dusseldorp, in particular, is fantastic as the unrepentant Nora - a strong woman made stronger for rebuilding herself.

This more than made up for the disappointment of the last MTC play we saw. 

4 Stars


Today's Song: (Which has been stuck in my head for two days now)




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