A DOLL’S HOUSE
By Henrik Ibsen.
A new adaptation by Bryony Lavery
Nora, a young wife and mother is married to Torvald, a recently promoted bank manager. Life seems
content and settled until their marriage is threatened when a terrible secret from Nora’s past comes back
to haunt her and she begins to question their world.
Henrik Ibsen’s ground-breaking play is widely regarded as a landmark of the modern stage. A story of
domestic revolution, female empowerment and the journey towards self-liberation, it queries aspirations,
success and what it means to raise a happy family. The play is still as charged, intense and provocative as
it was 130 years ago.
APPROACHING IBSEN
Assistant director Holly Race Roughan explores how a director might prepare
for a production of A DOLL’S HOUSE…
A lot of work on a play takes place outside the
rehearsal room, during the rehearsal period but
most importantly before rehearsals even begin. A
director will often start by asking themselves the
following questions about A DOLL’S HOUSE:
 What is this play actually about?
 Whose story is it?
 Why will the audience want to go on this
even give each version a rating out of ten for each
one of their criteria in order to help them compare.
For the Royal Exchange production of A DOLL’S
HOUSE, director Greg Hersov picked a translation/
adaptation by the renowned playwright Bryony
Lavery (best known for her award winning play
journey with this character?
 Why does this story need to be told?
 Why stage this play in this particular theatre?
 Why is this play still relevant to today’s
audience?
Henrik Ibsen’s play was originally written in
Norwegian in 1879 and so, after answering these
questions, the director will then need to pick the
specific English translation/adaptation that most
resonates with their vision for the production. One
way to pick a translation is to do a ‘blind test’. As a
blind test, a director could pick five different
versions of the play and photocopy the same
scene from each version, making sure that they
don’t know who the translator is for each. This
allows the director to compare the different
translations without bias – a director might be
biased because one particular version is famous, or
they know the writer, or they saw a successful
production of a particular translation. The director
may want to ask themselves specific questions
about each version of the scene: how vivid is the
imagery? how is the punctuation used? is there a
clarity of story telling? is the translation loyal
enough to Ibsen’s original? The director might
Cush Jumbo as Nora Helmer (Photo - Jonathan Keenan)
FROZEN). Her adaptation of A DOLL’S HOUSE is
very faithful to Ibsen’s original story, but Greg
explains it has a certain “vividness” and
“freshness” to it, that makes it accessible to a
modern day audience. Unusually the text is laid
out on the page almost like a poem, with short
lines, and a very interesting use of punctuation
and capitalization. For example:
NORA in Act III:
I don’t believe that anymore.
I think I am first and foremost a human being
Just as much a one as you are
Or at least I’m trying to become one
I know most people and most books too
Will say you are right, Torvald
But what most people and most books say
… I can’t let guide me any more
I must think for myself
I must understand myself.
The actors working on this production have found
this style of writing incredibly freeing: having the
text laid out in such a way gives it a certain
rhythm, which helps the actors judge how to pace
scenes and gives them a natural momentum. The
text uses a poetic technique called enjambment
(this is when a sentence is carried on over a linebreak) – this naturally emphasises specific words
and thoughts, as does the capitalization of certain
words which helps with the clarity of story-telling.
Moreover, Lavery’s minimalist use of full stops and
commas leaves a freedom for the actors to play
with the text and interpret the lines in a multitude
of ways.
Once the director has chosen a particular version
of A DOLL’S HOUSE, they will embark upon a
period of research. Often the primary research task
for the director will be to read the playwright
(Ibsen) and the adaptor’s (Lavery) other plays, in
order to gain a deeper understanding of the voice
of the playwright and the style of their work. Greg
has the advantage of having directed other Ibsen
plays in the past, so he has a strong sense of how
Ibsen’s plays work and what he must do to
unleash the play’s full potential. Greg also had
conversations about the play with the adaptor
Bryony Lavery in the lead up to rehearsals, and in
rehearsals she was an invaluable resource,
discussing the story and unpacking the meaning of
lines in detail with the actors, as well as suggesting
rewrites on certain lines and words to suit our
production.
Other research might include:
 Reading biographies about the playwright, for
example, Greg read ‘Ibsen’ by Michael Meyer.
 Reading critical essays about the play itself, for
example, Greg read ‘Twentieth Century Views’
edited by Rolf Fjelde, amongst others.
 Investigating the social and political history of
the late 19th century Victorian era and studying
modern Norway and Norway in 1879. Greg read
Cush Jumbo as Nora Helmer (Photo - Jonathan Keenan)
‘The Soul of the North – a social, architectural,
and cultural history of the Nordic countries,
1700-1940’ and the modern Lonely Planet travel
guide to Norway.
 Looking at art and film for inspiration. Greg
looked at lots of art by the Norwegian painter
Edvard Munch who was a contemporary of
Ibsen, as well as watching Scandinavian films,
including the Swedish film ‘Fanny and
Alexander’ set at the turn of the 20th century to
get a broad sense of the period and
geographical differences.
When Greg directed Ibsen’s GHOSTS at the Royal
Exchange in 2000, he went on a research trip to
Norway. Images from that trip were displayed in
the rehearsal room for A DOLL’S HOUSE. These
images helped to build up an idea in the actors’
imaginations of what the landscape in Norway is
like, and how it is different from Manchester’s
landscape. We noticed in particular the
commonality of dark lakes and huge blue skies in
Norway, which contributed to a shared
understanding of the world of the play amongst
the performers. Also in the rehearsal room is a
map of Norway and a selection of books and DVD’s
from Greg’s research that the actors are able to
borrow at any time.
A director might often research previous
productions of the play. Not only did Greg see the
Young Vic’s most recent production of A DOLL’S
HOUSE adapted by Simon Stephens in London, but
he also examined contemporary reactions to the
play at the time of Ibsen. One reviewer wrote of
the premier of A DOLL’S HOUSE in 1879:
‘I ask openly: is there a mother among thousands
of mothers, a wife among thousands of wives, who
would act as Nora acts, who would leave husband
and children and home so she herself first and
foremost can become "a human being"? And I
answer most decidedly: No, absolutely not! There
is not, in her pretentious effort of justification, full
of empty bourgeois expressions, a single point
which justifies her action, and the transformation
of her character, which the playwright forces to
happen, is so untruthful, unattractive and
unmotivated, that we are surprised that a
playwright like Ibsen will admit paternity.’
Once the director has thoroughly researched the
playwright, the adaptor, the play, and the world
the play exists in, it is time to turn their attention
to their production of the play. To make decisions
about set, costume, lighting, and sound with the
designers and most importantly to cast the actors
for their production ready for rehearsal…
WHY NOT? Focus on one character from A
DOLL’S HOUSE from the point of view of an
actor? A common Stanislavski exercise for an
actor to do in preparation for rehearsals is to go
through the text and write down:
 Everything their character says about
themselves.
 Everything their character says about other
characters.
 Everything other characters say about their
character.
WHY NOT? Write the letters that are sent and
received in the play, but never read out, using
your imagination?
 The letter Kristine wrote to Krogstad ten
years ago after they ended their relationship,
that Krogstad alludes to at the beginning of
Act III
 The letter Krogstad wrote to Torvald to tell
him about Nora taking out a loan and forging
a signature, that Torvald opens in Act III
 The letter Krogstad sends to Nora which
contains the returned promissory note that
Torvald intercepts and opens in Act III
 The two letters Ann Marie tells Nora she
received from her daughter after her
daughter was confirmed and married at the
beginning of Act II
A DOLL’S HOUSE runs at the Royal
Exchange Theatre from 1 May - 1
June 2013.
Box Office: 0161 833 9833
royalexchange.co.uk/dollshouse
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Introducing A DOLL’S HOUSE
Tuesday 14 May, 10am – 12pm
Pre-show workshop for schools, groups and
individuals who have booked to see the show.
£8 / £6 (all concessions & group leaders);
Book on 0161 833 9833
In The Lounge
Thursday 16 May, 6 – 7pm
Join Greg Hersov, director of A DOLL'S HOUSE
(a role he reprises from its first showing here in
1987) and find out what it's like to work with
the hugely talented Cush Jumbo for a 3rd time.
FREE; no need to book
Supported by the Royal
Norwegian Embassy in London: