THE 1041C Theater Reviews

Theater Review for The Dollhouse

As I crept down the spiraling path to the stairs leading to the theater, I felt every step in the throbbing vein at the side of my head and behind both eyes. I hugged the walls for dear life, pressing slowly but steadily towards the seat that would hold my fate for the next hour and fifteen minutes. As I lowered myself slowly into the plush cushion, my vision blurred and pulses of pain shot through my entire head. I closed my eyes for a few minutes, unable to sleep as I gasped for air, stomach churning and head pounding. And that’s when the pain started; a chubby man on stage asked for quiet and The Dollhouse began.

I’ve read The Dollhouse in high school before, so I already knew the outcome of the play before it started. The written version of the play is actually very good; I even chose it in AP English as the topic for a research paper I wrote. However, the theatrical version put on by Baruch was not quite up to snuff. I don’t know if it was because I had a headache that felt like someone was hitting the back of my head constantly with a baseball bat or because of any other external factors that skewed my perception, but I did not enjoy this play as much as I thought I would have.

To be fair, I’ll start with the most obvious thing that Baruch actually got right this time around; the actors. Besides the fact that Torvald Helmer looked like Jason Stratham from the Transporter movies, every one of the actors fit the character type they played. I wouldn’t be surprised if the actress who played Nora was actually some previously oppressed and now empowered woman, or if the actor who played Nils Krogstad was actually some spiteful and desperate creep. The casting crew must have looked through a neighborhood pedophile watch list for Krogstad; the man had the perfect look for the role. However, I do have an issue with Anne-Marie, the “nanny” of the play. I couldn’t understand why a man was chosen to play the role of a female, even if the role consisted of just a few lines. It brought me to wonder how hard it could possibly been to find some older female to play the role of a female nanny if the time was taken to find someone to play Krogstad who looked like he had about twenty child molestation and sexual predatory charges on his criminal record.

As for the acting, Torvald Helmer was less domineering and fatherly than he should have been and had more of the childish aspects that Nora was supposed to have. Even when he got angry at or “reprimanded” Nora he seemed to do it out of some immature need to throw a tamper tantrum to maintain power, while it was clear from the very beginning that Nora was just pretending to be naive and childish. And the “nanny” should have moved around a bit more, sitting in the seat hindered his ability to show more emotions while reading his lines. The only two good actors on the cast played Krogstad and Kristine, Kristine was clearly portrayed as a quiet but independent woman who knew what she wanted in life and Krogstad was obviously a broken hearted man who’s desperation led him to bring his pain upon others.

Another turn off for me in this play was the opting out of several important characters and the “nanny’s” interaction with the audience. The most blatantly missing character was Dr. Rank, who was supposed to play a huge influence over Nora. I guess one can be understanding of this due to the lack of time, but seeing as the production cut out many important parts of the play I think it would have been possible to fit in the doctor, for whatever miniscule time allowed. And the nanny who also doubled as narrator was in my opinion, a bit of a clown. For someone watching from the audience with a pounding headache, the last thing you want to hear is a cynical fat man playing the role of a female complaining to you about the lack of “audience participation” and about the people falling asleep. I of course, was wide-awake the whole time, something I regret after hearing his sardonic drivel.

But of course all this is such a shallow perspective. One can never make judgments based on appearance; it takes a careful analysis of the productions intentions and the original message of the play to provide an accurate rating for theatrical productions. Did this production team create an accurate interpretation of Henrik Ibsen’s message? I stand behind the firm answer of “no”. Ibsen’s message behind this play was originally concerned with the role of men and women in the 19^th century. This production created an image of more of a soap opera filled with financial and domestic disagreements without addressing the gender issue. All reactions in the play seemed like normal and acceptable results, although the main point of the original script was to point out the glaring problems dealing with gender in society.  Since this was not achieved, I could not bring myself to positively rate this play.

When the play ended, I stood up slowly. The ground shook once more, and I reached over to lean on a friend’s shoulder. I turned to take one last fleeting glimpse of Kristine Linde’s voluptuous breasts, imprinted them into my memory, and turned to the task of conquering the steps to the outside world. I had survived the pain. I had survived.