This play, in this form, was first performed by the Royal Danish Theatre and the National Theatre of Oslo.
We turned up at the house of a nice suburban couple, who were hosting our party, along with a group of professional actors for this famously intense play.
The guests were marched into the house and took our seats in the sitting room, leaving a space in the middle of the floor for the play to take place.
The play we were were going to watch was A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen. The cast comprised of the excellent Cassie Raine, actress and founder of Parents in Performing Arts, Ben Samuels American actor/director and Jamie Zubairi, British born, Anglo Malay actor, artist and photographer.
Half way through, the story was paused, lively music was put on and we were all urged to get up and dance. This was not the proudest moment of the evening for me, because I dance like a grandad. Also thirty or so people doing a Conga around the ground floor of a semi detached house is fun but not elegant.
The main thread of the story concerns a decision that Nora made many years before, for the very best of motives, but felt unable to share with her husband. Now, years later, that decision has come back to bite her. When Nora is finally forced to tell Torvald what happened he is unable to to demonstrate any empathy for her and tells her he no longer loves her for lying to him. She is then forced to consider his worth as a human being and finds him lacking.
At the end there were a few tears in the eyes of the audience, including my self. The production required many simplifications on the original play but the intimacy and the humanity more than made up for that. See it when you can, it really is unmissable.
Reviewed by Graham Archer
A DOLL’S HOUSE plays on various dates until 10 December 2016
