THE 1041C Theater Reviews

After having read A Doll’s House for class and really enjoying it, I came into the theater with enthusiasm and almost excitement for what was to come. The play was one of the most legitimately interesting that I’ve read so far, and I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Usually, the reading is either too dry or too long to keep me engaged, but this being a more contemporary and feminist play, it was really a treat.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the play had to be read in a very abridged format. Having read the play as a whole and directly comparing it, it did feel somewhat underwhelming. That is, of course, no fault of the performers or the BPAC. I feel they did a great job with what scarce materials and time they had.

One of the main things that detracted from the experience of the play as a whole was the discrepancy in enthusiasm and quality of the acting. None of the actors were explicitly poor in their performance; they were certainly all good actors. I feel as though the actors who portrayed Nora Hemler and Nils Krogstad really stole the show, kept me attentive and sucked me in to the play. The scenes that included both of them going back and forth were intense and interesting. This might be because these scenes in the play are indeed more engaging than the others are intended to be, but regardless, I felt as though there was a distinct contrast in excitement and stimulation between certain parts. This led to a very disorienting experience throughout, as I found myself on the edge of my seat one minute, and the next I was almost dozing off. I think the main reason for this is Nora’s dynamic personality and interactions with the other characters in the play. She is a different person depending on who she is speaking to, and this was a somewhat disconcerting trend that I found occurring frequently through the duration of the play.