© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
“The stage of Terje Tveit’s modern production is loaded with big tempting parcels, it’s set at Christmas, but the image rings all sorts of alarm bells: this is a time of year noted for domestic strife, while the piled-up presents reveal trapped wife Nora’s spendthrift nature and suggest not just secrets and things hidden beneath the wrappers but also toys and the child-like games Nora and husband Torvald – a watchable Tom Peters - play to avoid addressing the chasm in their relationship and the chasm in their relationship and her past misdemeanour. To emphasise this point, each scene is divided by the performers singing carols and larking around like children. It’s a device that labours the point at times, but provides a framework for this accessible version with its liberal translation and modern dress of black and red. It makes for a commendably fluid interpretation but perhaps misses the sense of period and social restriction, that Nora is corseted in all senses; and it’s also difficult to take the blackmailing money lender Krogstad seriously when he’s sporting a scarlet polo neck. Still as Nora, coquettishly wolfing down forbidden biscuits in her husband’s absence, Sarah Head is a whirlwind force to be reckoned with […] a cohesive and coherent production with energy to burn.”
| Russell Bentley | Krogstad |
| Graham Elwell | Dr Rank |
| Juliet Fitzgerald | Kristina |
| Sarah Head | Nora |
| Tom Peters | Helmer |
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
“At the centre is a strong Ibsen portrayal. Sarah Head shows the technical assurance and emotional understanding of a fine Nora. She signals her new awareness of her husband and their marriage early, standing statue-like on a gift-wrapped box, arms out and expressing deep shock, turned from Helmer as he moves with childish lack of emotional control through extremes of fear and relief. Head clearly shows enlightenment awakening Nora’s mind; the face is immobile apart from the eyes, which register the dawning realisation of her husband’s weakness and its massive implication for her own future. [...] Non-realistic Ibsen wins out thanks to some clear ideas and a beautifully-acted Nora.”
“In Dale Teater Kompani's [Ibsen Stage Company] stripped-down adaptation directed by Terje Tveit, the moments of high drama and conflict are handled with gripping sureness of touch and paced with wonderful precision. When Krogstad the blackmailer - an excellent Russell Bentley - confronts Nora, and when Nora confronts her husband Helmer, you can feel the zig-zags of electricity on stage. Sarah Head makes a fine Nora and portrays her winsome self-infantilism with subtle care.”
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
“Nora’s ending is allowed to create a powerful, climactic ending. [...] As Nora, Sarah Head has a strong presence and command of the stage and is notable alongside the other cast members. Her realtionship with Graham Elwell's Dr. Rank is well addressed and Rank's confession of his love for her is suitably uncomfortable. [...] Once the pace begins to slow it is then that the tensions surrounding Nora's leaving are permitted to create a powerful climactic ending. The set, strewn with parcels and a green stepladder, suggests a toy shop window. It seems Tveit's intention is a happy facade behind which the troubles of the Helmer marriage household are hidden - a valid decision yet one that loses some of the shocking elements that caused Ibsen's play to be originally so widely condemned.”
“Henrik Ibsen's play explores the concepts of family and duty, unpicking the relatiuonship between a man and his wife. [...] The five-person cast play the children of the house as well as the adults of the drama, so in a blink of an eye the sickly and covetous Dr. Rank is suddenly transformed into a bashful and fidgeting young boy. They race around the stage between scenes, playing hide-and-seek and singing Christmas carols; this noisy enthusiasm contrasts with the increasingly strained undercurrents of the adult world. And as the carols grow and lift towards Christmas Day Nora's feelings of entrapment only become more unbearable. Terje Tveit is the play's translator, director and designer and he excels in all three roles. The play has been cut without losing any of the original quality. In many productions, actors seem to find themselves daunted by the complexity of the various characters. It’s a testament to the skills of both the cast and the director that in this staging the characters are never anything but three-dimensional. This is a must-see production.”
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
© Image courtesy of StagePhoto
