Every year, Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” is staged in several places around the world. The nearly 150-year-old play has been central to both artistic and gender politics: It is the play in which the young mother of small children, Nora, leaves her husband, children and house. She no longer just wants to be Torvald’s little lark, she wants to be a whole person. Madame Tussauds When the Norwegian puppet theater star Yngvild Aspeli now stands alone on stage and gestalts this entire play in Hamar cultural center, it is in a version that takes as a starting point the puppet theatre’s distinctive features and possibilities. AN EFFECTIVE GRIP: The children’s dolls attached to Nora’s dress. Photo: Christophe RAYNAUD DE LAGE Aspeli plays Nora, the play’s narrator and protagonist, and the other characters in the play (her husband Torvald, her friend Kristine, the creditor Krogstad and family friend Rank) are human-sized dolls that Aspeli brings to life. Nora stands on stage as the only living person in a cabinet, or as the only person of flesh and blood in a cramped and old-fashioned room at Madame Tussauds. But that is until Aspeli takes hold of the dolls. The puppetry is so precise and good that one sometimes forgets that these are figures in the hands of a puppeteer. A doll-crime Aspeli tells the story from Nora’s point of view and in her own words. She does not apologize, explains how she has illegally borrowed money to save her husband’s health, and how she has worked to pay this back. When her husband has now got a job at the bank, which will provide a stable and good family income, she is saved. Until the past catches up with her and puts her in an impossible situation. NOT TO STAND: Nora Helmer is a mother, and a lark. Finally, she can’t take it anymore. Photo: Christophe Raynaud de Lage Playing “A Doll’s House” with dolls gives an interesting effect when Nora (who is called “doll” by her husband) is the only one not in doll form on stage. The puppeteering gives many layers of interpretation to the individual character, small movements can reveal underlying intentions. What’s more: In the world of the figures, Nora can actually become a lark, and the spiders from the tarantella she is forced to dance crawl across the floor and take on ever more sinister forms. The use of black theater is consistent and very effective, and the underlying music gives the impression that this is a crime story, a suspense story where everything is at stake. NOT JUST A LARK: Nora Helmer (in the middle) is called a little lark by her husband, but flies her way. Here she is surrounded by the characters who are in the performance. The lighting is typical for black theatre. Photo: Johan Karlsson Magic for dummies And it is in these wordless scenes where Nora becomes a bird, where she is overpowered by spiders or where she takes on new forms, that the performance reaches its magical moments. Aspeli’s tarantella dance is one of several such highlights – and what these scenes have in common is that the visual takes over the narrative and expands reality. The moves in which the characters take over make Ibsen’s narrative overwhelming and awe-inspiring. I find myself wondering if the text takes up too much space at the expense of the wordless. At the same time, “A Doll’s House” is almost Ibsen for dummies in the most positive sense of the term: a retelling of Ibsen’s work, set in the old days, told with contemporary language and clear, exciting effects. Ibsen becomes easy to understand, the characters make the narrative intuitive for an audience living in a time where divorce is no longer something extraordinary. But Aspeli makes the reasons behind it, what bothers Nora and leads to the break-up, to come forward clearly. IBSENIAN DANCE: When Nora is ordered to dance the tarantella, Yngvild Aspeli puts on a new costume apart from his original one. It is very effective, and makes the dance as Ibsen wanted it: unreal, brutal and wild. Photo: Johan Karlsson A rare opportunity So when everything unravels in the end, literally, it’s a shocking and harrowing breakup the audience has been through. The performance is made by Aspeli’s French company Plexus Polaire, a company that tours the world with its performances (and now with Ibsen). The performance is performed in English. Dramaturgically, “A Doll’s House” has some scenes that are not quite in place, this applies, among other things, to the introduction of the various characters. They tend to become caricatures in Nora’s story when their background and motivation are hastily presented. And the scenes at the start, where Aspeli goes from one doll to the other, occasionally take on a monotonous feel. Towards the end, Aspeli gets a physical partner, her husband is no longer just a doll. That choice is probably necessary for the power of the performance, but neither the play nor the interaction between the two is dynamic enough in the final scenes. Nevertheless: “A Doll’s House” is a rare opportunity for a Norwegian audience to experience a classic in this distinctive form of theatre. If you want to give Ibsen to a young person, for example, this could be the thing. WORLDWIDE HAMARSING: Yngvild Aspeli is the artistic director of the French puppet theater company Plexus Polaire. They won the Hedda prize in the audiovisual design category for “Moby Dick” in 2022, which toured the world. She is also the artistic director of the figure theater in Nordland. Photo: Johan Karlsson news reviewer Photo: Johan Karlsson Title: “A Doll’s House” By: Plexus Polaire Inspired by: “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen With: Yngvild Aspeli and Viktor Lukawski Location: Teater Innlandet, Hamar Premiere: 16 February 2024 Performance period : 16 February to 18 February 2024. To be played in Oslo in June. Duration: 1 hour and 20 minutes Suitable for: Everyone aged 14 and over The performance is performed in English. Directors: Yngvild Aspeli and Paola Rizza Set designer: François Gauthier–Lafaye Costume designer: Benjamin Moreau Composer: Guro Skumsnes Moe Lighting: Vincent Loubière Sound: Simon Masson Playwright: Pauline Thimonnier Choreographer: Cécile Laloy Set designer: Alix Weugue Choir coordination: Pauline Schill In the roles : Yngvild Aspeli, Sébastien Puech, Carole Allemand, Pascale Blaison, Delphine Cerf TRADITIONAL “A DOLL’S HOUSE” ANNO 1973: Lise Fjeldstad as Nora and Knut Risan as Torvald in the Television Theater’s production.
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“A Doll’s House” at Teater Innlandet in Hamar – news Culture and entertainment
