2008 Woodie Awards
'A Doll House:' Still Significant
Amber Tucker
Issue date: 4/20/06 Section: Arts
This April, Smith College students are performing an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll House," for the spring 2006 season. The original play, written by the Norwegian playwright in 1879, was groundbreaking in its time and still captivates audiences to this day. "A Doll House" focuses mainly on the life of a jovial, selfless young woman, Nora, and her proud, chauvinistic husband, Torvald. The play, in a way, is suspenseful as Nora desperately clings to a powerful secret. On one hand, her secret gives Nora's life meaning and a sense of pride and power, but it is also a secret that could potentially destroy the very foundation of her existence.
Surrounding Nora's big secret is a broader political message that addresses the complications and intricacies involved in the daily battle to maintain social and economic roles. The play explores various challenges of class, gender, their relation to each other and the theories and stereotypes behind feminine weakness and feminine power. The story is about more than just keeping a secret. In Nora's struggle to keep the secret is her struggle to improve or, at the very least maintain, the economic status of her family. Furthermore, in her trials to keep her big secret is her struggle to not cross the boundaries of her place as a wife and as a woman all the while.
The Smith College adaptation has been uniquely adjusted to include a few dance routines that further the message of the play. This year's production, directed by Toby Bercovici '06 includes symbolic dance routines in which dancers, who represent a touring Vaudeville group, act as the actor's puppeteers-guiding the actresses through their lives. Much like dolls and puppets, each of the characters is toyed with by the pressures of the outside world. Their actions are controlled by their roles as men, as woman, as middle-class citizens. Their strings are pulled by their fears of the perceptions of the outside world and by their longing to fit into or break free from the traditional boundaries of their given positions. None of their actions are their own, but only actions which they wish others and the greater world to see.
Considering the period in which the story was originally written, it is easy to understand how a play like "A Doll House" would be considered progressive. More than 100 years later the shock of the moral of the story has in a sense worn away. However, shocking or not, the greater significance of the story is still an important message for society as a whole to know and to remember.
"A Doll House" opens April 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Theatre 14 at The Mendenhall Center. The show will run from April 20 through April 22 and from April 26 through April 29.
Surrounding Nora's big secret is a broader political message that addresses the complications and intricacies involved in the daily battle to maintain social and economic roles. The play explores various challenges of class, gender, their relation to each other and the theories and stereotypes behind feminine weakness and feminine power. The story is about more than just keeping a secret. In Nora's struggle to keep the secret is her struggle to improve or, at the very least maintain, the economic status of her family. Furthermore, in her trials to keep her big secret is her struggle to not cross the boundaries of her place as a wife and as a woman all the while.
The Smith College adaptation has been uniquely adjusted to include a few dance routines that further the message of the play. This year's production, directed by Toby Bercovici '06 includes symbolic dance routines in which dancers, who represent a touring Vaudeville group, act as the actor's puppeteers-guiding the actresses through their lives. Much like dolls and puppets, each of the characters is toyed with by the pressures of the outside world. Their actions are controlled by their roles as men, as woman, as middle-class citizens. Their strings are pulled by their fears of the perceptions of the outside world and by their longing to fit into or break free from the traditional boundaries of their given positions. None of their actions are their own, but only actions which they wish others and the greater world to see.
Considering the period in which the story was originally written, it is easy to understand how a play like "A Doll House" would be considered progressive. More than 100 years later the shock of the moral of the story has in a sense worn away. However, shocking or not, the greater significance of the story is still an important message for society as a whole to know and to remember.
"A Doll House" opens April 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Theatre 14 at The Mendenhall Center. The show will run from April 20 through April 22 and from April 26 through April 29.
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