THE 1041C Theater Reviews

This staged reading of A Doll House was a fairly entertaining experience. Like they warned us before the show began, the plot seemed a bit choppy and rushed at points, but I felt the acting made up for the abridged story development.

First off, I would like to commend the actors for playing their roles perfectly. Nora played the part of a childish woman forced into that mentality by a domineering husband well, even managing to make it convincing that this was not her true self but a staged facade she puts on to be more accepted in society. There were many moments where it can be sensed that deep down, Nora was not this naive, easily pleased child, especially with her past actions in saving her husband, it can be seen that everything she has done in the play was a result of her trying to retain her husband’s approval.

As for Torvald, his role as a chauvinistic man who speaks condescendingly to his wife as if she were still a child was also well played. At first, I was not very fond of the actor chosen, his voice sounded pompous and overdone, giving me bad memories of Jason from Medea, but as the play continued, Torvald’s mannerisms grew on me. I actually grew to like Torvald’s voice, it seemed very powerful and characteristic of an authoritative father figure that tries to keep control. I was convinced that this Torvald actually deeply cared for Nora and was completely honest with everything he said, which made their separation at the end all the more emotional. He seemed to truly love her and I was actually torn between his side and Nora’s side. On Torvald’s side, he seemed to sincerely want Nora back and willing to change for her sake, but on Nora’s side, she had a point about the two not really knowing each other and that she needed to be on her own to understand herself. I think it’s a real testament to their acting ability when they can make an audience sympathize with two conflicting ideas.

As others have noted, Krogstad looked and acted the part of a conniving villain expertly, with his dark clothes and slouching posture adding to his malicious intent. However, I did note that at some moments, particularly in the earlier ones, his idle pose seemed a bit overly villainous. I can’t quite describe it, but the way he slouched and his apathetic, yet wily gaze at Nora made him seem a lot like an evil-for-the-sake of evil character. Honestly, it kind of made it seem like he was making up the whole suffering family story to manipulate Nora, since he does not give off the aura of a downtrodden family man trying to do what he must to keep them alive. I also found it rather unnerving that he so easily falls back in love with Christine despite his marital status. After that scene, I was far more concerned with what would result from this rekindled relationship than what would happen to Nora and Torvald, but more on that later.

Christine, I felt was the weakest of the four characters, she just seemed to be the extra character who provided someone to talk with Nora and a convenient relation to the villain to help move the story along. Still, she was not a bad actor and she did her job. However, I found myself confused over her attempt to convince Krogstad to repeal his letter. Was she sincere with her pity on Krogstad for breaking his heart, or was she just appealing to his emotions to get him to do what she wanted? It seemed like the former was intended, but the suddenness of the plot point and how it was just so convenient for her to reveal at such a prime moment in the play that she had relations with him makes the latter seem likely too. This new relationship, as I mentioned earlier, seems more interesting than the main plot now. As I was writing this, I checked a plot summary of the play to refresh my mind and apparently Krogstad’s wife died. I’m not sure if this was mentioned in the one we saw, but either way, it doesn’t make Krogstad look any better. On one hand, he may be cheating on his wife and leaving her for an old flame, on the other he just drops his dead wife’s memory for an old flame. Both of these situations lend more to my belief that he wasn’t that sincere when talking to Nora about his suffering family.

As for the last actor, the narrator, he was alright. All he did was say what happened and be the nanny. His nanny role was at first a bit distracting, but then I just kept imagining him as a male butler with an effeminate name.