Ingmar Bergman’s Nora
is a provocative choice for Westport Country Playhouse’s 3rd
production of the season. This play, which is a pared down version of Henrik
Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, is a beautifully
written, thought-provoking conversation starter that deals with the issue of women’s
roles in the face of an oppressive patriarchal society. When A Doll’s House was written in 1879, it
challenged male dominated societal rules about a woman’s place in the home and
in the world.
As envisioned by director David Kennedy, Westport Country
Playhouse’s version is a more contemporary look at the same issues. Using an
innovative open scenic design by Kristen Robinson and superb lighting by
Matthew Richards, we are brought into a 20th century world where sadly,
some of the social elements of 1879 still strike a nerve: secrets in a
marriage, controlling and abusive husbands, employment and our sense of self,
poverty after the death of a spouse, and the far reaching effects of a troubled
past. However, the contemporary setting of this production is distracting and
does not work well with the dialogue and important themes presented in the
original play.
In the 19th century, the ideal woman possessed a
nurturing, passive, domestic character. A woman’s place was certainly in the
home; her primary duties were to attend to and bolster her husband, and to be
seen as the moral compass for the family. Often at the mercy of her caretakers,
women possessed few resources for making their way in the world without her
partner, a situation that the title character faced when her husband became ill
and was in need of an extended stay in a restful environment. Without the means
to afford such a trip, Nora illegally borrowed the money without her husband’s
knowledge or consent and has been secretly paying back the loan. Things take a
turn for the worse, when through a series of bizarre coincidences, Nora’s
moneylender is discharged by her husband’s bank, and he decides to blackmail
Nora into securing a new bank position and advancing his career.
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| Lucas Hall and Liv Rooth in Nora, Ingmar Bergman's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Now through August 2nd at Westport Country Playhouse Photo by Carol Rosegg |
On the surface, this premise feels implausible for a
contemporary Nora. As played by Liv Rooth, she seems more terrified of what her
husband would do if he found out that she went behind his back to take out a
loan than the irksome little detail that she forged a signature to do it. Her
fear is not for herself but for her husband, who she assumes would feel emasculated
by the fact that his wife helped him but who would nobly take the fall for the
forgery.
It does not help that in this modern day version, Nora is
like a caricature of a less than brilliant, and yes, a blond, trophy wife. Looking
like a well-coifed Barbie doll in chiffon and satin cocktail dresses and heels,
thanks to the sublime costumes of Katherine Roth, Nora more
than ably fulfills the role of decorative status symbol. She is the object of
affection who is coddled and cosseted according to the whims and wishes of her
husband Torvald. Nora is a full participant in this game as well; she is
submissive when she needs to be, childish and coquettish. Flirtation and sex
are her main tools for getting what she wants. When Torvald gets a bit too
close to the truth, Nora calculatingly plays dumb, asking Torvald’s help in
picking out her clothing, or to teach her to dance. Her efforts at seducing him
away from incriminating evidence are almost cartoonish with her shoulder
shaking, pouting lips, and come hither stare. And the worst of it is that
Torvald falls for it.
The best that I can say about Torvald, convincingly played by
Lucas Hall, is that he is a piece of work. He is the epitome of an authoritative,
controlling, narcissistic, sexist pig. He decides how Nora should act, what she
should wear, what she should think, when she should speak, where they go, when
they have to leave, how much she is allowed to spend, and on what items.
Everything about Nora is a reflection of him; she is just another of his
possessions whose purpose is to impress others. She is his plaything, to dress
up and do with her what he pleases, when he pleases.
There is nothing latent about his chauvinism; and therein
lies the problem. Torvald is clueless that there could be any other way to
interact with his wife. In the modern setting, his condescending little
speeches and directives, as well as his incredulity that his little woman could
ever possibly think of leaving him are maddeningly laughable. Such blatant
sexism may have made sense in the 19th century when it was more a
rule than the exception, but in today’s slightly more enlightened times, you
just want to shake your head and say, “Dude, buy yourself a clue.”
There are other characters who inhabit Nora’s world. She has unseen children, who are little
more than a footnote to the story. LeRoy McClain plays Dr. Rank, a dying family
friend who is attracted to Nora and possibly the only man who sees her beyond
her role as wife and mother. Stephanie Janssen plays Mrs. Linde, a friend who’s
arrival unwittingly sets off the events played out on stage, and Shawn Fagan
gives a beautifully nuanced performance as Nils Krogstad, the disgraced banker
who exposes all of Nora’s secrets. Mr. Fagan’s performance has just the right
amount of desperation and menace to make Krogstad seem both threatening and
sympathetic at the same time.
However, it is the drama that takes place between husband and
wife that drives this production forward. Secrets are revealed, and Nora
eventually walks out on Torvald, having learned that she has not been loved for
who she is but for the roles she plays. The sudden turnaround comes as a bit of
a shock; Nora expresses such momentary rage at Torvald at one point in the
final scene that I was left scratching my head and asking, “Where did that come
from?” Given the fact that we had no hint of simmering feminism or a growing
sense of self in Nora up to this point, it seemed so out of place that I was as
taken aback as Torvald must have been.
Nora’s sudden fit of rage was another unfortunate distraction from
the eloquent words and monologues that Ibsen wrote for the final act of A Doll’s House. But even that moment is
not as jarring as the unnecessary final image of a vulnerable Torvald,
symbolically stripped of his perceived entitlements that made him Nora’s
superior, standing lost and dumbfounded in all his gratuitously naked glory.
A Doll’s
House shines a light on the oppression of women in a male
dominated society. It speaks eloquently about the roles of women, sacrifices
made in marriages, and of being treated like a human being over and above
gender. It is disappointing that the added distractions of Westport Country
Playhouse’s production of Nora
detract from the message that Ibsen conveys with this important play,
especially in this day and age when women are still fighting for an equal place
in society.
Nora runs through August 2nd at Westport Country Playhouse. Call 203-227-4177 or visit www.WestportPlayhouse.org
for tickets.
