The first clue that Production Workshop's adaptation of "A Doll House," by Henrik Ibsen, intends to be unorthodox is the Brazilian samba simpering in the background before the play begins.
Director Tara Ahmadinejad's '07 choice to use "The Girl from Ipanema" as a sonorous thread lends itself to some curious parallels. It is difficult to imagine Ibsen's protagonist, the dutiful housewife Nora Helmer, as "tall and tan," as the song goes, but she is certainly "young and lovely."
Nora is strong-willed and stubborn, though childish, a fact emphasized by the energetic performance by Alice Winslow '08. In a play lauded as one of the first cries of feminism in modern dramatic literature, Winslow's Nora uses the weapon of feminine charm as she sees fit. She seduces, elicits pity and plays the innocent as she navigates the constraints of social acceptability in a man's world.
"I can't get anywhere without your help!" Nora cunningly cries to her husband Torvald (Adam Mazer '08) at a moment particularly thick with dramatic irony. The audience knows, unlike Torvald, that Nora is distracting her staunchly moralistic husband from opening a letter sent by his associate Krogstad. The letter will inform him of Nora's illegal financial activity that she has kept secret from him for many years.
In order to save her ailing husband's life, Nora forged her father's signature to borrow money from Krogstad. In Nora's eyes, this constitutes a noble act. In Torvald's eyes, it cuckolds his status as breadwinner and violates the civil law he upholds. After all, Torvald is in the process of firing the corrupt Krogstad from the bank where they work.
Despite this seemingly somber unraveling of events, Ahmadinejad's production is in many ways a comedy, which she establishes in the first seconds of the show. A bit of dramatic lighting and the pulse of a samba accompany Nora as she stumbles into the enormous white kitchen holding a toppling stack of shiny Christmas presents. She is heralded by a mysterious clan of black-clad figures who flit around the stage for the entire piece.
At times posing as the Helmer children, the household servants, and even adopting a Greek chorus-like mimicry of the storyline's emotional undercurrent, this ensemble serves to make explicit the repressed emotional fabric that is often a hallmark of Scandinavian drama.
Indeed, melodrama is something Ahmadinejad plays with ingenuously. Her characters often give in to intense physical manifestations of their inner turmoil, entering and exiting the stage through the gigantic cabinets, as though Nora's entire world springs from the stifling domesticity of her native habitat.
Thankfully, Lizzie Vieh '07 provides much-needed solemnity in the role of Nora's estranged childhood friend, Kristine. Vieh's subtle negotiations between the sadness and the humor of her character's tragic situation make for a strong dramatic force and a glint of naturalistic comedy that tempers the whole work.
Ahmadinejad's directorial hand is a heavy one. Her seemingly abrupt ending leaves audience members in a daze, questioning the viability of the actors' performances. Still, as the final scene of the show fades from view like a still in a Fellini film, Torvald stands alone against a panoramic of white, black and red, while Nora's voice echoes in the emptiness. The impact of the message, no matter what the content, is strikingly accomplished.
The last performance of "A Doll House" is tonight at 8:00.
