A doll's house

 Dolls House Research 

Major Characters: 

Nora Helmer – a 19th century wife, married to Torvald Helmer and mother of three. 

Torvald Helmer – Nora’s husband, newly promoted bank manager. Treats Nora like an innocent child and speaks down to her. 

Nils Krogstad – supposed scoundrel. Fired by Torvald after his promotion, threatens to reveal Nora’s secret if she doesn’t convince Torvald to fire her 

When was it written: 

Written and premiered in 1879 around Christmas time 

Main Plot summary: 

The play revolves around the life of Nora Helmer, who is a seemingly happy wife of Torvald Helmer in a middle-class family. However, Nora is troubled by the fact that she borrowed money to save Torvald’s life when he was sick, which she forged his signature to do so. When Torvald fires the man who lent her the money and knows of her secret (Krogstad), he threatens to expose what she did unless she can convince her husband not to fire him. Nora is unsuccessful, however, and Torvald discovers what she did. His reaction shows Nora that he is more concerned over his reputation than of her sacrifices. She realizes that she is constantly patronized and controlled by her husband and she makes the bold decision to leave him and her family and find her own identity.  

Why was it revolutionary for the time: 

The play explores gender roles and challenges social norms of the time, which affected society greatly. It became a huge sensation and was the most-performed play that year. Some people praised Henrick Ibsen for his portrayal of Nora but others condemned the play for displaying marriage in this way. 

Scene choice, Character and Practitioner:

Scene Choice - pg. 44: Nora and Krogstad

Character - Krogstad

Practitioner - Antonin Artaud

Character profile:

Krogstad -

Job - Lawyer

Relationship to Nora - holds feelings for her from the past, when they were once lovers. he feels she can help him regain his status

Background - involved with forgery, leading to a troubled reputation. 

Thoughts and Feelings - driven by desire to regain his status and respectability. This leads to him to blackmail Nora regarding the loan she took out to help Torvold. His actions create a significant conflict in the play. 

 

Log:

25th November - Today we read through the script and brain stormed different ideas on how we could adapt the script into an Artaudian-style performance and started to choreograph certain parts, thinking about Artaud's techniques such as screaming, whispering and overlapping dialogue. We also explored costumes, deciding on a ripped-looking, black dress for Nora and a ripped blazer for Krogstad.

26th November - We met up for a rehearsal to practise and further come up with ideas to build our performance, incorporating technical use including sound and lighting to make an unsettling mood.

28th November - We practised what we had made, effectively lengthening sections to meet the time requirement and rehearsing as off-script as possible. Additionally, we planned on the positioning of the audience and props, wanting to use candles to further create an eerie atmosphere and a teddy bear for Nora to play with. Finally, we discussed what we could do to get ready for the performance, taking research from our practical lesson on Artaud.

5th December - I finalised my costume , deciding on a black shirt and a blazer. We also continued to practise making our performance slower to fit in the time allowance.

9th December - Today we finalised our performance and prepared for the tech run on Thursday. We also wrote our 1 minute intro for the assessment.

Intro to performance:

My name is Jack Mullett.

My candidate number is 6165.

I am playing the role of Krogstad in a Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. My chosen practitioner is Artaud. To prepare for this role I did a high intensity workout before our piece, as Artaud believed his actors should perform like athletes. In this performance, we have incorporated a variety of Artaud's methods. For example, we included non-verbal communication such as breathing and screams. You can see this when I walk toward Nora at the start of our piece. Additionally, we used harsh lighting in order to visibly shock the audience, and finally, we positioned audience members close to us to make them feel even more uncomfortable, which was Artaud's intention.