A Doll's House

When: Wednesday 18^th July 2012

Where: Young Vic

Why: Bargain £10 ticket procured by my pal @cakespeareuk

The Young Vic is so cool. It’s such a young person’s, vibrant, funky theatre. Love the balcony bar and the bench seats. Big fan. And the play wasn’t bad either. I’d seen A Doll’s House once at uni: a production starring my (petite, dainty) friend as the maid, where she had inexplicably been forced to wear a fat suit. I’m afraid the hilarity of this somewhat distracted from the content of the play, but I do remember finding the subject matter intriguing – wife plays up to the typical wifely, dependant, daffy creature for the sake of her husband, but eventually goes mental with the strain of it all and chucks him in. Very good story stuff.

I knew I knew Hattie Morahan’s face but didn’t try and find out where from until after the play – turns out it was from Outnumbered. She plays the main role of Nora and she is so charismatic and convincing in managing to be simultaneously emotionally repressed, manipulative and still kind of charming. She has a brilliantly expressive face and a great way of transferring the meaning of her words straight into the heads of the audience. She also completely led the show, and was only upstaged for a few minutes when the baby was brought onto the stage – cue loud and sustained coos from the audience as it gurgled and chuckled. Not sure how they managed to find such a well-trained child – our theory was that they had a row of babies backstage from which they selected the most cheerful when it was time to go on. That’s what I would do. The little boy actors were also pretty good, which was a blessing as kids on stage in supporting roles generally annoy me (see for evidence the blank-eyed boy in the Duchess of Malfi. Only exception obviously is Matilda, where all the kidlets are stupdendous.)

The other stars of the show, as pretty much every reviewer has pointed out, were the stage and the music. A genius revolving stage kept the production fluid and dynamic, and projected little scenes of family life giving a really effective domestic and homely impression. This was combined with rousing, emotional music which was just excellent. I’d also been reading the play before I went, and noticed that the version we were seeing was slightly different – a new translation by Simon Stephens which was more modern, colloquial and direct, and which was exactly right for the mood of this production.

The final scene where Nora breaks free from her husband and obligations, and denounces pretty much everything in her world, from morals to religion to duty, was incredibly powerful and not overworked as it might have been. I thought Morahan was as convincing as it’s possible to be with what is basically a really quick transformation of outlook on life – I overheard a few audience members arguing that it just isn’t realistic to change so completely so suddenly. But I think that sometimes things that have been building up in a head for years and years, even subconsciously, can suddenly snap – and when they do things can never be the same again. So in that sense Nora’s rebellion is supremely realistic. I also LOVE the lines which pretty much sum up the entire plot:

Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora – bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves.

Nora: It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done.

Ibsen was so insightful and ahead of his time and just generally a total lad.

Brilliant brilliant play. Loved it. Even without a comedy fat suit.

Brixpig x