HALE PARK THEATER FESTIVAL PRODUCTION
A Doll's House
By Henric Ibsen
Performances:
September 20 - 22, 2001
at Hale
Park
6258 W 62nd St
Chicago, IL
Featuring:
Nora ... Sydney Niblack
Helmer ... Rob Fagin
Mrs. Linde ... Melanie Aspan
Krogstad ... Wally Roche and Pat Frank (double cast)
Dr. Rank ... Dan Frank
Anna Marie ... Lauren Cronin
Director ... Kevin McSweeney
Assistant Director ... Abby Girdauskas
Technical Director ... Erin Grabe
Costumer ... Lauren Cronin
Dramaturge ... Liz
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9-6-01
Ibsen's A Doll's House Nears Performance
M.P.T.G will soon be going into Tech. for their production of Henric Ibsen's A Doll's House. The show is part of The Hale Park Theater Company's Fall Theater Fest. The show will run the second weekend of the fest, September 20 - 22 at Hale Park. Curtain is at 7:30 PM and tickets are $7.00 at the door. If you need further information, contact Munroe Park (312) 747 - 6561.
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Read the
script (with an introduction).
A Doll's House is a thrilling drama. When a woman is accused
of forgery -- signing her husband's signature, she expects that he will
stand by her. The play is a strong statement about women's (and all
people's) rights to be human beings.
The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen subjects his writing to the intricacies of marriage time and time again. He seems to have an omniscient power and ability to observe the sacrament itself, along with the fictional characters whom he creates to engage in these marital affairs.
The play raises questions about female self-sacrifice in a male-dominated world. Nora is a "wife and child" to Torvald Helmer, and nothing more. She is his doll, a plaything on display to the world, of little intellectual value and even less utility in his life. Thus it is logical for Helmer to act so shockingly upon his discovery that Nora has managed financial affairs (typically a family responsibility reserved for the patriarch) without so much as his consent or knowledge. What, then, is the play saying about women by allowing Nora to act alone and independently, all the while allowing her to achieve little success in doing so?
Such an apparent doubt by the playwright of the abilities of women is quickly redeemed by Nora's sudden mental fruition, as though she, in the course of a day or so, accomplishes the amount of growing up to which most persons devote years and years. She has developed the intuition and motivation to leave behind everything she has lived for during she and Helmer's eight years of marriage in exchange for an independent life and the much-sought virtue of independent thought. Nora suddenly wishes to be alone in the world, responsible for only her own well-being and success or failure. She is breaking free of her crutches (Helmer, her deceased father, the ill-obtained finances from Krogstad) and is now appetent to walk tall and proud.
Through the marital madness of Helmer and Nora, Ibsen is questioning the roles of both husband and wife, and what happens when one person dominates such a relationship in a manner that is demeaning to the other, regardless of whether such degradation is carried out in a conscious, intended frame of mind. Ibsen is truly a master playwright, and his play A Doll's House is truly a masterpiece.*
* (A Portrait of Marriage in Ibsen's A Doll's House,
October 1, 1997 Reviewer: Thomas Kevin Pride from Duke University in Durham,
NC)
| Learn about Ibsen, "one of the greatest playwrights in history." Ibsen's tragedies of common people along with his staging and dialogue revolutionized modern concepts of drama. |