A Doll's House

A Doll’s House aroused a great deal of controversy when it premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in 1879. At a time when strict social conventions (and gender roles) were sacrosanct, Ibsen dared to have the central character, Nora Helmer, leave her suffocating marriage and her children to “find herself”. In spite of the scandal (or because of it), the production sold out every performance and was quickly followed by equally successful runs in Stockholm, Sweden and in Christiana (Oslo) and Bergen, Norway. The play is a domestic drama that takes place over several days during Christmas in which the delicate balance of the household is disrupted by the gradual exposure of secrets and lies. Nora secretly (and illegally) borrowed money to finance her banker husband’s recuperation from overwork from a man her husband is about to fire, himself a forger. Naturally, he resorts to blackmail, but eventually relents when he reconciles with his beloved, a former nanny to the family recently freed of a loveless marriage of necessity. Nora is exposed nonetheless and disowned by her husband before the threat is defused. Relieved when the incriminating note is destroyed, he forgives her, thinking her mistake a simple product of her daffy femininity. But the damage is done. He is not the man she thought he was and she is not the doll he so often calls her. She has to go. No good deed goes unpunished. It is no wonder A Doll’s House is the most performed play in the entire world.