By: Allissa Valenzuela, Sarah Phan, and Angel Simmala

Original Stage Production and Notable Interpretations

of A Doll’s House

Original ProductionRoyal Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark

❖ December 21, 1879❖ Directed by H.P. Holst❖ Three act play done in prose❖ Every performance of its run sold out❖ "Not a single declamatory phrase, no high dramatics, no drop of blood, not even a tear"( Bøgh)❖ “This play touches the lives of thousands of families; oh yes there are thousands of such doll-homes, where

the husband treats his wife as a child he amuses himself with, and so that is what the wives become” (Social-Demokraten).

Novelty Theatre, London, 1889❖ First uncut performance in England.❖ Staged as part of a privately subsidised feminist experimental project by the Free Theatre movement. ❖ “We cannot doubt that all who desire to become better acquainted with the❖ author’s new-fangled theories, and to see them put into practice in the most satisfactory manner, will

crowd the Novelty Theatre for the next few evenings. If they cannot agree with the author they will, at any rate, see some admirable acting” Clement Scott’s review of A Doll’s House at Novelty Theatre in The Daily Telegraph, London, 8 June 1889 (No. 10,624).

❖ “The wife, according to the new northern philosophy, should be the companion, the helpmate, and the trusted counsellor of her husband. Most Englishmen will be of opinion that these are foregone conclusions.” A review of A Doll’s House at Novelty Theatre in The Times, London, 8 June 1889 (No. 32,720).

Germany, 1880● Hedwig Niemann-Raabe● Felt that she could never leave her children so now other woman could.● The production of the play began rehearsing a different ending that

they could work with so Ibsen changed it.● "A barbaric act of violence"

Alternate EndingNORA: …Where we could make a real marriage out of our lives together. Goodbye.

(Begins to go)

HELMER: Go then! (Seizes her arm.) But first you shall see your children for the last time!

NORA: Let me go! I will not see them! I cannot!

HELMER: (draws her over to the door, left) You shall see them. (Opens the door and says softly.) Look, there they are asleep,

peaceful and carefree. Tomorrow, when they wake up and call for their mother, they will be – motherless.

NORA: (trembling) Motherless….!

HELMER: As you once were.

NORA: Motherless! (Struggles with herself, lets her travelling-bag fall and says.) Oh, this is a sin against myself, but I cannot

leave them, (Half sinks down by the door).

HELMER: (joyfully, but softly) Nora!

The curtain falls.

A Doll’s House Movie, 1973

● First released April 10, 1973 in the Netherlands

● Tone of the central theme of the movie was still revolutionary

● shows how societal values are twisted, starting with the unfairness of

traditional marriage roles.

● In this version there's a feeling of discontent right from the start. (*Why is this

different from the version we’ve read in the literature textbook?)

● Makes a firm argument for feminist values and denounce marriage as an

oppressive institution of society

Nora: a short film responding to Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (2012)

Discussion Questions

1. What effect does the time period it was produced in have on the short

film compared to the play?

2. What was the effect of the short film leaving out any interaction

between Nora and Torvald?

3. What are motifs found in the short film that are used between

different interpretations, and are they just as effective in portraying

the theme in each one?